A Lady's Lullaby
by Tales of Fox
Summary: Adrien comes across Marinette without her noticing him, and discovers that she has a secret talent that she hadn't told anyone before. And the more he learns about her, the more he likes. This is pre-reveal Adrienette with more things to come.
1. The Siren Sings

**I don own Miraculous Ladybug or any of the characters in this. But I hope you enjoy this fanfic all the same.**

Chapter 1

Well today couldn't be any more boring for Adrien at this point. Classes were over but he was stuck at school for a while. Normally, he'd be in one of his private lessons at this point but all of his tutors were unavailable at the moment. His Chinese tutor was out of the country, his piano instructor was out sick, and his fencing teacher had an injury which prevented him from fencing. Even his own ride home was running behind schedule because of engine troubles. So it was safe to say that Adrien would be spending his time at school until something changed.

Currently he was waiting inside just walking around the halls. School didn't close until after a few more hours because of different club activities that occurred after school. He thought about participating in those clubs but none of them caught his interest. All he could do was wander aimlessly until someone contacted him to take him home. Seeing that there was no one else around, Adrien allowed Plagg to leave his pocket, and asked the kwami, "Do you think I can still make it home if I walked?"

"I'm pretty sure your arrival time wouldn't be an issue," the cat answered, "The problem is your dad's response to you leaving without a chauffeur."

Adrien groaned at the answer, remembering what Plagg meant. Last time the chauffeur was late with picking up Adrien, he decided to walk home. That didn't go so smoothly with his father since he ended up grounding Adrien for a week. His only way out of that was by changing to Chat Noir. And his only opportunity for entertainment that way was visiting Marinette.

Ever since the incident with Evillustrator, Chat Noir would almost always make a stop by Marinette's place. Visiting her as Chat Noir was one of his favorite things to do since her behavior around Chat was different than around Adrien. Around Adrien, she would stutter and shut down, and generally act like a complete mess. But if she was visiting with Chat Noir, she was confident, bold, outgoing, and not afraid to tease him back. The difference would always baffle him until he remembered that she didn't know the two were the same person.

"Yeah fair enough I guess," Adrien agreed, "But What is there to do? There's not a lot of people here."

Plagg shrugged, "I don't know. Improvise I guess. Use your imagination. You're suppose to be smart, right?"

At that remark, Adrien just stuffed Plagg back into his pocket, and went back to meandering through the halls. He only stopped when he heard a pleasant sound reach his ears coming from the auditorium nearby. He recognized it as a young woman singing along with a song but he couldn't catch the words. As he moved closer to the source, he began to realize what it was he was hearing. It was Marinette sitting down and designing while singing along to her music. And she truly had the voice of an angel in Adrien's mind.

The young blond became entranced by her singing. If she was a siren, she'd have him wrapped around her finger for sure. He found himself begin to unconsciously smile just listening alone. He managed to keep himself hidden long enough to listen to her sing three different songs with three different moods. It was actually by the third song that she began to get up and dance to the music.

All Adrien could do was watched as she let the music take her away. That was until he moved a little too close and ended up coming out of his hiding spot. By the end of the last song, Marinette saw that he was listening the whole song. When she noticed him there, she yelped in surprise at his presence and suddenly the girl that would become a stuttering mess had returned to greet Adrien once more. Thus she quickly tried to break the silence, and stuttered out, "A-Adrien…how…how long w-were you…were you standing there?"

"Well since three songs ago," Adrien answered honestly, "Though I wish I arrived earlier. You have a beautiful voice."

Marinette's face turned a deep red while her heart soared at the comment, "Oh…Uh…thank you. I-It's nothing special though. At least not compared to you."

Marinette paused as her mind thought Oh god. Did I just say that out loud? She looked to Adrien to see how he'd take the compliment. In her eyes, he certainly had a good poker face. She was just about to get ready to apologize for making things awkward between them. But Adrien spoke first, "How about we test that theory?"

The bluenette's expression shifted from concern to confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Well I think we should find a good duet song for us to do," Adrien said as he pulled out his own phone to search for a good song.

Based on what she was singing earlier, it was hard for Adrien to choose one. He knew that Marinette was a Jagged Stone fan based on the fact that she designed numerous things for him in the past. But Jagged didn't have a lot of good duet songs for them to try. Thankfully he found a song from a popular musical that they could try. He showed the song choice to Marinette, and asked, "How's this?"

Marinette glanced at his phone, and said, "I love that one."

Adrien then looked for the karaoke version of the song, as soon as he found it, he tapped the play button. He started the singing, and even began to dance along with the music, mostly in an attempt to get her to join him. Thankfully she did join in, and he even noticed a smile which made him try harder. He felt lucky that he was blessed with a good voice though he could already tell hers was better. But he felt like the magic came when Marinette sang her part of the song.

That was when he felt a true connection with her. And this time, it was between them both without his mask on. There was no clumsy, shy girl who looked nervous whenever he entered a room. This was the real Marinette that he always wanted to see. And that's when another realization dawned on him. But before he could dwell on it further, the song ended, and the two found themselves holding each other close at the end.

As they slowly pulled apart, Marinette spoke up, "That was…incredible."

"I was about to say miraculous," Adrien said with a warm smile, "We should do this again some time."

Marinette nodded in response, "I'd love that."

Suddenly, Adrien's phone rang which caused him to completely pull away from Marinette though he was reluctant to do so. He answered the phone to find that the person calling him was his chauffeur. The man let Adrien know that the car issue was resolved, and that he'd be over to pick him up in 10 minutes. Adrien confirmed that he'd be waiting for the driver outside, and hung up. He turned his attention back to Marinette, saying, "Sorry. That's my ride."

Marinette nodded, and said, "That's okay. I understand."

"Oh before I go, here's my number so we can chat over the phone," Adrien said as he wrote down his phone number and handed it to Marinette.

As the bluenette grabbed the paper, Adrien added something else, "By the way, I got invited to a special event featuring Jagged Stone, and my father is allowing me to take someone else with me. I offered to Nino, but he had something else with Alya that day. Would you like to come with me instead?"

Marinette froze with shock, "You mean…as in…a…a date?"

Adrien hesitated before answering. He was just hoping to hang out with her more as a friend while he was Adrien Agreste. It wasn't intended to be anything romantic or anything close to a date. But he felt something inside of him eagerly wanting to scream out that she was correct. So he answered, "Yeah. It'd be a date if that's okay with you."

Marinette's own hesitation made him feel worried. He didn't know if he said the wrong thing, or not but it seemed like he made a mistake. However, his thoughts were interrupted when she said, "Absolutely I'd love to go on a date with you," her blush darkened, "I mean yes. I'd never miss an opportunity like that," her eyes widened, "No that's not what I meant either."

She then took a deep breath, and said, "I'd be happy to go on a date with you."

Adrien smiled warmly once more, "Great. I'll text you the details when I have all of the info. Bye Marinette."

Just as he left he heard her call out, "Bye Adrien."

As soon as Adrien got into the car meant to take him home, Plagg softly berated him for all of the dancing while he was still in the boy's pocket. It only stopped when he realized that Adrien was lost in thought. Which left him with a good opportunity to tease him about the girl singing though to be fair, Plagg did enjoy listening to her as well. But the jokes needed to wait since they had stopped at the Agreste house. Only once they were in the privacy of Adrien's bedroom did Plagg commence the torment, "So did you kiss her yet?"

Adrien finally broke his train of thought, "Kiss who?"

"That blond brat from your class," Plagg deadpanned, "Who do you think genius? Marinette!"

Adrien blushed heavily, "What? No. She was just a friend. Besides, she can't be interested in me."

"She Just Agreed to go on a date with you dummy," Plagg spoke again, "And it certainly looks like you want to kiss her based on your blush there."

"She just had an amazing voice. That was all."

"You said she had a beautiful voice."

"Well it is true."

"She also seems cute."

"Yeah she's certainly cute."

"And has a good head on her shoulders."

"I'll say. She certainly knows what she's doing."

"And she's always there for her friends."

"She's the friendliest person I know."

"Which helps that she'll become your girlfriend."

"If the date goes right."

That last statement made both boys pause. They slowly glanced over at each other during the silence. Adrien's face became even more red from blushing. Plagg looked at him with the biggest Cheshire grin he could muster. Then the teasing continued, "So you do like her."

"Shut up and eat your Camembert," Adrien retorted as he stared out the window.

He then began to think on what Plagg was talking about and how he responded to each statement. It was true that he thought Marinette was cute if not beautiful enough to be a true princess. It was true that he enjoyed Marinette's passions and how she freely talked about all of them. And it was true that he found it sweet that Marinette would always put everyone else before herself in any circumstance. The fact that her singing voice was a gift from God was practically the cherry on top in the package that was Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Maybe he did have a crush on Marinette. And the rest of the day, Adrien couldn't stop smiling because of it.


	2. Story to tell

Chapter 2

To say that Marinette was over the moon was an understatement. For once, she was able to act normally around Adrien rather than clam up like usual. And she even got to dance with him, even though it wasn't like a waltz or anything, it still felt romantic to her. But to top it all off, Adrien even asked her on a date, and it was a romantic date as well. By now, she was over the stars with joy just eagerly waiting for the date to come up.

Her head would've remained in the clouds if Alya wasn't there to act as her tether, "Yo girl, are you even listening to me?"

Marinette snapped out of her daze, and said, "Yeah, I'm listening."

Alya gave a look of disbelief, "What did I just say then?"

Realizing that she didn't catch a single word of the conversation, she knew she had to come up with the closest thing that her bestie could be talking about, "You…were…talking about some awesome new footage for your Ladyblog. Saying how great it would be to interview our amazing heroes of Paris."

Alya's look remained unchanged, "No but because we're friends I'll let you try again."

"Okay, you were talking about our homework assignments?" Marinette asked, only to see Alya shake her head in response, "You were talking about Chloe?" Alya gave a light chuckle, knowing that was nowhere close to correct, "Okay what were you talking about?"

Alya then answered, "I was talking about how I heard about a karaoke place, and I planned on visiting with Nino."

Marinette almost slammed her hand against her head. The one more likely answer that it could've been and she didn't even think of it. Thankfully she knew how forgiving Alya was so she didn't feel like too bad of a friend. But she still felt bad about it all the same. She then said, "Come on, I was in the ballpark right?"

"In another country," Alya answered as she laughed a little, "But you were in A ballpark."

"I'm sorry," Marinette replied apologetically, "I've just been distracted lately because of what happened after school today."

Suddenly Alya's look shifted from amusement to excitement, "Was it good?"

"It was heavenly," Marinette started, "I was just waiting in the auditorium, making designs for new outfits."

Alya nodded, "And?"

Marinette then continued, "And Adrien was listening to me singing."

Alya paused, "You can sing?"

"Yeah a talent from my mom apparently," Marinette answered.

Alya was getting giddy now, "And?"

"And what?"

"What did Adrien say?"

"He called my voice beautiful."

Alya gasped, "Aww, that's so sweet."

"Next thing I know, he plays a duet song and the two of us sing together. We were dancing with the music too, and I think…" Marinette paused at remembering how close their heads were at the end of the song.

"You think what?" Alya's eagerness was kick into overdrive at this point, "What happened?"

"I think we almost kissed with how close our heads were," Marinette finished, "Next thing I know, he gave me my number, and asked me on a date. And I said yes."

That was when Alya squealed like a fan girl. It was no secret that Alya was rooting for what became known as Adrienette among her classmates. After all, it sounded like such the perfect couple in her mind. Which is why she ended up picking up Marinette and swinging her around much to the bluenette's surprise. The whole time, she was saying, "My little girl's all grown up."

"Alya, put me down!" Marinette cried out as she laughed at her best friend's response.

Alya obeyed the request but continued her cheers, "That's incredible girl. You not only got to dance with your crush, and sing a romantic duet, knowing you it was romantic, but you managed to get him to ask you out, and you almost kissed. My ship has come true."

Marinette groaned lightly. While she was pleased to have the support of her best friend, she hated calling potential relationships among real people 'ships'. It sounds like something that would never come true, or like it was just for appearances. Thankfully she felt like this one was real. Still she was happy that she had someone hoping for it to happen, despite the fact that she wasn't aware how many people actually wanted them to be a couple.

Immediately after she stopped celebrating, Alya had a thought, "When's the date?"

"Adrien said he'd contact me when it's happening," Marinette answered just before a realization dawned on her, "Oh Damn it."

"What?" Alya asked with concern, "Did you already delete the number I gave you?"

"Yes and he gave me his number so it's back on my cell phone," Marinette answered.

After the incident with the embarrassing voicemail, which she thankfully deleted before Adrien heard it, she made sure to read all of her messages to see if he saved it. However, she had accidentally sent him a few texts thinking she sent it to Alya. Thankfully it was all just texts about merchandise for her Ladyblog that she was making. After the third text sent to the wrong person, she deleted the contact so she wouldn't accidentally leave the boy a message about how she's head over heels for him again. But now she had a different problem, "Adrien doesn't have my number."

Alya began to laugh even as she noticed her best friend pout, "Relax, I'll help you out."

Meanwhile,

Adrien decided to stop by his father's office where he was currently working to let his father know what was happening. He managed to get a day for when the event was happening which he was only allowed to go to if he took someone responsible. So when asked, Adrien had answered by saying the person going with him was Marinette. That drew all of his father's attention on the boy. "The designer girl who made the bowler hat, and Jagged merchandise?"

"Yeah that's the one," Adrien answered, happy that his father remembered her.

"Interesting," Gabriel pushes his glasses back against his face, "So is this a friendly visit, or a date?"

Adrien hesitated with his answer. He felt like he was being set up for a trap but he didn't know which answer would get him out of it. If he said friendly visit, chances are good that his father wouldn't believe his answer and forbid him from attending. If he said that it was a date, he might be forbidden from attending as well. But no guts no glory, so Adrien went forward. "It's a date," he answered.

"I see," Gabriel replied without revealing his own thoughts on what was just said. Adrien began to panic a little as he waited for the response. Gabriel remained silent as he went back to his work leaving Adrien to worry even more. Did that mean that his father approved of the date, or would he be forbidden from ever seeing Marinette again? He almost felt like begging the shrewd man to say anything.

Finally he did when he noticed Adrien was still standing in the same spot, "Is there anything else?"

Adrien was dumbfounded to say the least, "You seem more calm about this than I thought you'd be."

Gabriel then explained, "From what I witnessed, she seems like a fine young woman with a good head on her shoulders. And her designs are rather spectacular. Besides, between us, she's a much better choice than Chloe Bourgeois."

"No argument there," Adrien Agreed.

While Chloe was counted as one of Adrien's friends, she was actually rather low on the list of people he'd want to spend time list. Truthfully they were mostly only friends because they met through each other's parent such as how her mom helped his dad start up in the fashion industry. But beyond that, there wasn't a lot of good things he could say about Chloe. She did have her moments to be fair, but there just wasn't a lot of them. Adrien decided to continue the conversation, "So you truly have no problem with me taking Marinette, a girl, on a date?"

Gabriel sighed, "So long as you stay on top of your studies, and avoid any distractions, I see no issue with you seeing this girl. Now please let me finish my work."

Adrien nodded and left his father's office. The whole way back to his room, he appeared stunned. And when he finally entered his room, all he did was sit down on his bed. He didn't even do anything for half an hour other than just think. This changed when Plagg popped out, and said, "Kid please say something. You look like a zombie."

"My dad Just allowed me to go on a date," Adrien said without even gazing at his kwami, "He had a conniption when Nino wanted to throw a birthday party for me, but he's allowing me to date?"

Plagg chimed in again, "If you're having second thoughts, we can always go back and try to change his mind."

Suddenly Adrien changed from sitting on his bed staring blankly at the ground to laying down on his bed staring at the ceiling, "Is he dying, or sick, or something?"

"Yeah maybe he was abducted by an akuma, or some aliens," Plagg said, clearly mocking the boy, "Will You Relax? He's probably just realizing that he needs to be a supportive father every now and then."

"Yeah But he hadn't been like that in years," Adrien replied feeling sad at the thought, "Anyway, I think now would be a good time to text Marinette."

However, another realization dawned on Adrien, "I don't have her number."

Plagg began bursting with laughter after hearing that statement, "You dumbass. You forgot to get her number? Of all the chosens I've ever had, you are my most favorite."

"Oh go f-" Adrien began to say until he received a text from Alya.

[To Cool Cat – From Super Sleuth: Hey Adrien. I heard that you didn't have Marinette's number for the date so here you go. Have fun Casanova.]

Attached to the message was Marinette's contact info. Adrien smiled as he wrote a reply.

[To Super Sleuth – From Cool Cat: Thanks Alya. I owe you.]

Once he got the contact saved, he sent the text to Marinette.

[To Princess – From Cool Cat: Hey Marinette, it's Adrien. Alya gave me your number. I got a date for our date. It's Saturday at 9:00 pm if you still want to go. I'll make sure to pick you up a little before then.]

Now he had to wait.

Meanwhile,

Marinette waited until she saw the text from Adrien. She knew that Alya really wanted to be helpful so she decided to let her send the text with Marinette's contact info. She knew it could've easily been done herself but thought it was better if Alya helped. Mostly because she was afraid of saying the wrong thing again and embarrassing herself. It was after she saw the text notification on her phone that she realized he had her contact.

When she read it, she had too many emotions flooding her head. Her first thought was that the date was happening tomorrow night and she had so little time to prepare. Her second thought was on her excitement that she was going on a date with Adrien freaking Agreste. Her third was on how to respond to the text. She decided that the best option was to play it cool and she began typing.

[To Hot Stuff – From Lady Luck: Sounds Great. See you then.]

"You saved his contact as Hot Stuff?" Alya snickered, "So when will you tell him your dream of the three kids, and the dog?"

Marinette then promptly threw a pillow at Alya's face as the two bantered back and forth. If the room was quiet enough, one would hear Tikki softly giggling while also feeling happy for her chosen.


	3. The First Date

Chapter 3

"I can't do this," Marinette almost cried out, "What do I do Tikki?"

Marinette was currently in the middle of a crisis at the moment. She was able to get past the enthusiasm of her date to get ready for the actual event. After a long chat with Adrien about the attire, Marinette settled on something casual yet also passable for fancy which was a red Ladybug-themed dress. She also made sure to pack enough treats for her and Adrien to share while also keeping a backup bag of treats for her kwami. Now her biggest issue was actually attending the date. And all she was doing was looking over a text she got from Adrien.

[To Lady Luck - From Hot Stuff: Hey. I'm on my way over. I'll be there in 10 minutes.]

She still had some trouble getting over the fact that she was going on a date with her crush. So every now and then, she would start to freak out over what could go wrong. She was lucky to have Tikki help her through her stress since Alya wouldn't stop teasing her about the date, and her parents were constantly hounding her to have Adrien stop by so they could see him again. Alas, she cycled back to panic mode and felt like screaming. Until Tikki reassured her, "Just try to think of it as if he were a friend you could joke with."

"He is a friend I can joke with," Marinette replied, "I'm just not able to do it very well."

"Then think of him like he's someone else," Tikki suggested, "Like Chat Noir."

"Chat Noir?" Marinette asked, her concern replaced with deep thought.

It's true that the two looked a little alike but their behavior couldn't be any more different. Adrien was a proper gentleman who was always friendly. Chat Noir was a goofball who always took any chance he could to make puns, and flirt with both sides of Marinette. But she was beginning to like Tikki's idea more and more. So Marinette said, "Okay, I'll give it a try."

"That's the spirit girl," Tikki cheered, "Now knock him dead."

Marinette smiled at the support she received while downstairs, Adrien had just arrived at the bakery. It was clear that he had the same plan as Marinette with dressing fancy casual wearing a nice blue buttoned shirt with a black jacket over the top, and nice black pants. He also had on a fedora which was in the Chat Noir style of design, and was recommended by Alya since it was merchandise from her site which Marinette made. He was even more grateful that it not only looked nice, but it also wasn't made of feathers this time. When he felt like he was ready, he entered the bakery and immediately got a warm welcome from Marinette's parents.

As they waited for Marinette to come down from her room, Adrien began chatting with her parents and bonded with them both almost instantly. Tom was happy that the young man had always enjoyed the pastries Marinette would give the class from time to time. Sabine was impressed with how fluent his mandarin was. And both absolutely admired how polite he was towards them both. Adrien could've sworn he heard Tom whisper something along the lines of 'perfect son-in-law material' to his wife.

However once Marinette made her way down the steps, all thoughts of their conversation while they waited went out the window of a bullet train. Adrien was left speechless by what he saw walked down the stairs. He always thought that Marinette looked cute, but with that dress she was wearing, she looked gorgeous. She looked like she belonged in a fashion magazine whether she thought so or not. And of course the main thought running through Adrien's head was, How did I not see this before?

Meanwhile Marinette couldn't help but think similarly of him. In her eyes, he looked hot even after she noticed the fedora he was wearing. She couldn't entirely tell if he genuinely wanted to wear it, or if it was just on his head to show support for Marinette's designs. Either way, seeing him wear something she made caused a happy smile to grow on her face. She decided to test out a little joke with him, "I'm glad you like the hat I designed. I think it suits you purrfectly."

Whatever greeting that Adrien had planned for Marinette had left him at that moment. How was she able to joke with him now, and when did she start using puns that he would use as Chat Noir? Could it be that she found out his secret, or was it just as because he was wearing something that was Chat Noir themed? Either way, while it did catch him off guard, it also warmed his heart to see her relax around him. So he provided a response to her greeting, "Thanks. And you look beautiful yourself."

Marinette blushed at the comment before turning to her parents, saying, "We should be back before midnight."

Just as they left, the two heard Tom call out, "Be back before midnight."

The two got in the car, and drove off to the event. When asked about what it was, Adrien explained that it was still unclear to him as well. When he first heard of it, he thought that it'd be some kind of fancy event like a gala. But when he heard that Jagged Stone was going to be there, he figured that it'd be more of a casual thing like a concert. But beyond that, he was clueless about what would happen when there.

"You really have no idea what to expect?" Marinette asked, her voice hinting at some amusement.

"Not exactly," Adrien said honestly, "I was just invited to show up, and I'm assuming it was because I was a fan of Jagged Stone, and son of Gabriel Agreste."

"Okay then if we end up kidnapped and held for ransom, I'm blaming you," Marinette said with a light laugh to indicate she was clearly joking.

"Fine," Adrien Agreed as he laughed along with her, "But I also reserve the right to be the hero, and save my damsel in distress when I get my moment."

That earned him a better laugh from his date. It felt good that he was able to joke with her, and have her joke back. At least until they both found out that they were holding each other's hand. Then there was a moment of awkward silence between the two as their hands recoiled from the other's. Once they arrived however, Adrien offered his hand for Marinette to hold again as they left the car which she happily accepted.

Turns out, the event was in fact a Jagged Stone concert. So they were a little overdressed for the date as they found out. But since they were already there, they decided to embrace the look that they gave off. They began to tease each other a little more until they heard someone greet the two.

"Marinette," the person called out, "Glad to see you could show up."

The pair turned towards where the voice came from, and saw that it was Jagged Stone himself. This led to a lot of questions flooding Adrien's head. But one was answered when he heard Jagged say, "Is this the guy you've talked about?"

Marinette nodded, obviously red from embarrassment as Jagged continued talking, "Mari told me that you were a fan of my music. Thought I'd let you hear it live in case you hadn't already."

Now Adrien was starting to get suspicious, "Did someone ask you to send me tickets so I could ask her out?"

Jagged laughed at the accusation, "Who said it was set up? I'd say that you should just enjoy the moment while you can. Oh, and enjoy the concert as well."

Before the two could ask more, Jagged took off after a fan spotted him. Unfortunately for the fan, she was hauled off by security when she tried to kiss the rockstar. Which left the couple just talking to Jagged heading to their seats. And in the back of their minds, they both made sure to get ready in case of another akuma attack. But since they had a little bit of time t on their hands, Adrien decided to ask, "So who do you think persuaded Jagged Stone to send me the tickets?"

Marinette shrugged, "For all I know, Alya probably had a hand in this."

"Yeah it does sound like something she might do," Adrien Agreed, "By the way, has she done that sort of thing in the past?"

"A few times," Marinette answered honestly, "I do love her, but I swear I feel like I need to go through her plans with her to make sure they happen properly."

"Well glad to hear that she was rooting for…well…this moment," Adrien said, trying not to make things awkward.

Not long after he said that, the concert began. It went well until fifteen minutes in the concert, an akuma appeared in search of Jagged. It was obviously the fan who was turned away. Everyone, including the young couple, left to safety. However, before they even left the building, Adrien dragged Marinette into a nearby closet, and said, "I'll call the police to get help. You stay here so the akuma doesn't get to you."

All Marinette could do was watch Adrien run off, and leave her hidden in the closet. She would feel the desire to chastise him for leaving her there if not for one other thing. He just gave her the opportunity to become Ladybug now. So as soon as she made sure no one else could catch her, she opened her bag for Tikki to fly out, and asked, "Why did it have to happen now of all times?"

"I think we should focus on the akuma now," Tikki suggested, "The rest can wait until later."

"You're right," Marinette sighed before getting ready to transform, "Tikki, spots on."


	4. A Musical Moment Once More

Chapter 4

The akuma attack actually proved to be a fast fight for Ladybug and Chat Noir. It was also the one time that they didn't need to use their miraculous abilities. Maybe Hawkmoth was getting lazy with his attacks this time. Or maybe their team dynamic was getting better. Either way, things were different between the two.

It was clear to them both that they wanted to finish up the fight quickly for a reason unknown to the other. And as soon as they finished, Ladybug noticed that Chat Noir wasn't flirting with her as much. In fact, his mind seemed to be on something else and it concerned her. Not to say he was distracted during the fight, but it was more that he was focused on getting the matter handled. What made him change like that?

She remembered that she didn't have long to think on it since Adrien was expecting her to still be in the closet where he left her. So she quickly made her way back to where she was before she became Ladybug, and managed to do it without anyone noticing. Once inside the closet she changed back to Marinette just a minute before Adrien showed up again. He quickly examined her for any marks, and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Marinette answered, happy to see he cared for her wellbeing, "Somehow, Ladybug and Chat Noir finished their fight pretty quickly."

"Well that can allow us to finish up our date," Adrien said as he took her hand, and led her out of the closet.

Unfortunately for both of them, the date couldn't really be continued. Because of the akuma attack, people left in such a hurry so there was no one to perform in front of. They were also convinced that Jagged Stone And his entourage were gone as well. So that just left them alone in an empty auditorium feeling disappointed. Until there came an idea.

"Do you think the speakers are still set up?" Adrien asked with a light smirk.

"Probably since they didn't bother to take anything down," Marinette then looked at him with a curious expression, "Why do you ask?"

"Well the concert doesn't completely have to end here," Adrien answered as he walked over to an electric piano that was still plugged in.

He began to play a song that Marinette recognized as a romantic piece. Then when Adrien began singing, she started to get emotional. She never had anyone sing for her in this way so she couldn't help but let the tears build in her eyes as she smiled. She then decided to join in with Adrien, and created a harmony with her own voice. After they entered the final verse of the song, they began to trade off who would take the melody.

Once they finished the song, they heard applauding from behind them. They turned around to discover that Jagged Stone And his crew never left the auditorium. Both teens blushed with embarrassment at the realization that they had an audience, and moved away from the piano. "I didn't know you two had such wonderful voices," Jagged said with a very wide smile, "Maybe you two should go on tour with me after you finish school."

They all chuckled at the last statement Jagged made. However, it was clear that both teens thought that each other's voices were good enough to make into a career. But neither one expected to actually make it into a career despite the fact that they both enjoyed singing so much. Suddenly Jagged had a thought. "Tell you what," he began to say, "Since our concert was ruined by the akuma, What say we have a little private performance for you both? You can feel free to sing yourselves if you want."

They both nodded, and watched as they got ready to play. Marinette walked up to the performers, and held up her phone with a song choice in mind, asking, "Do you guys know this song by any chance?"

Jagged smiled, "Don't worry Mari, we got you covered."

When the band began to play, Marinette took lead in the singing. The piece was a slow romantic piece that was made as a duet. Thankfully Adrien recognized the piece as well, and took over singing the second part. During their singing, the two teens began to dance once more to the music, allowing it to take over their movements. They only stopped when the songs changed, and they changed with the music.

Meanwhile, Tikki was sitting off in the distance out of view from the humans just listening to the music. That was until she noticed Plagg extend a paw to her, and asked, "You feel like dancing Spots?"

Tikki smiled, "Why not? Might as well enjoy the moment ourselves."

Suddenly the kwamis began dancing in the air along with the music. There were even some light laughter from both kwamis when the mood of the song changed to something more upbeat. They also noticed that Jagged got the band to play another romantic song but this time, he was the one singing while the two young singers let their voices rest. This song was actually more in the style of Jagged Stone would usually play which surprised them since he didn't seem like the type to be into that sort of thing. Clearly everyone has some hidden knowledge.

As the kwamis danced, Tikki spoke up, "I didn't realize you were one to move with the groove Plagg."

"I'm not usually," Plagg responded honestly, "But I can make an exception every now and then. Unless you rather I don't."

"And ruin our moment together?" Tikki replied, "We can have some fun of our own."

The musical performance went on for a little over an hour until they all realized that they needed to head home. After saying their goodbyes, the kwamis returned to their chosens without getting spotted by the other humans. Jagged and his crew got their equipment packed up with the help of Marinette and Adrien. Once that was done, they took off leaving Adrien, And Marinette to wait for the car to pick them up. It was silent for a brief moment before Adrien said, "Sorry our date was interrupted by the akuma."

"It's not your fault," Marinette replied, "Neither Of us knew it would be coming."

"I imagine Alya might be pissed at missing some footage though," Adrien pointed out.

Marinette laughed, "I don't think she missed much. The akuma was dealt with too quickly."

Adrien chuckled and sighed, "Not quickly though. Maybe we can try again? I don't know when I'd be available to take you on another date but…"

Marinette then put her arm around him, and rested her head on his shoulder, saying, "Absolutely. Maybe we can set this next one up ourselves without any help from our friends."

They both laughed at that comment. At some point after the Laughter, Adrien put his arm around Marinette, and the two just sat waiting for the car. When it did arrive, the two had to break apart so that they could get in the vehicle. It ended up being a short drive to Marinette's house which was good because the two ended up in an awkward silence in the car ride over. When the car stopped, the pair got out of the vehicle to say their goodbyes.

"Well I'm glad that we got a chance to do this," Adrien said as he stood face to face with Marinette.

The bluenette nodded in response, "Hopefully we'll get another chance to do this again."

When she looked up at him, they ended up locking eyes. To her, it was like staring at the grassy plain touched by the sunrise. To him, it was like staring at the ocean in the sunset. They both stood motionless for what felt like an eternity until they felt their kwamis push them closer together. When the distance between them grew shorter, they both decided to close the gap until their lips at met in a pleasant kiss.

After the initial moment, they both embraced each other and depended the kiss. He was tasting pastries and strawberries from her lips, and became intoxicated from that alone. Eventually their lips separated once more while they both leaned their heads together. They wanted to return to kissing but they realized that the moment had to end at some point. That didn't stop them from smiling as they pulled away from each other completely.

"See you in classes hot stuff," Marinette said as she began walking inside.

Just before the door closed, she heard Adrien say, "Till next time Princess."

Marinette then immediately ran up to her room to celebrate the moment. She passed by her parents who were on their way to bed. However when they asked about how the date went, she simply said that it was heavenly, and they allowed her to leave it at that for now knowing that she'd probably say more about it later. And they were probably too tired to even try to let her explain the whole night. However after they heard her door close, they heard a happy squeal from her room.

Tikki quickly flew out of Marinette's bag so she could talk about the whole moment. She was happy for her chosen to say the least, after all she did manage to upgrade her crush to her boyfriend now. And she was able to be more comfortable around Adrien especially since they kissed. However, it felt like Marinette talking about kissing him took longer than her actually kissing him. She then plopped onto her bed saying, "I can die happy now."

Tikki giggled, "Well first you have to tell Alya."

Marinette's face then changed from pure happiness, to complete concern, "Crap."

Meanwhile,

Adrien was doing something similar with his own kwami. He figured that Plagg more than likely didn't care about the date but he went on talking anyway. Truth was that Plagg was actually overjoyed to see that Adrien finally made Marinette his girlfriend. He almost felt like revealing that she was Ladybug just to see if that could get them together finally, not that he'd ever admit that he was rooting for them just as much as his classmates were, excluding Chloe.

"So does that mean that you'll be sappy and romantic around her now?" Plagg asked with feigned disinterest.

"Maybe," Adrien happily replied, "It's probably expected now that we're a thing."

"Take it easy Romeo," Plagg warned him, "It was just one date."

"And yet, it feels like it was meant to be," Adrien said as he sat down on his bed, "Like it was fate."

"Because, in a way, it sort of is fate," Plagg mumbled as he floated over to his usual resting spot.

Adrien then turned his gaze towards his kwami, "What was that?"

"I said can you please get me Camembert on a plate?" Plagg lied to change the subject.


	5. Wait, what?

Chapter 5

Alya couldn't believe what she was seeing. To be honest it shocked them all when they witnessed it. None of them ever thought they'd see the day so all Hey could do was stare in shock. Even the teacher was surprised, or at least he would've been if he was there in the classroom. After all, Marinette finally arrived to classes early for the first time in history.

When she noticed all of the staring, she walked over to her friend, and asked, "Why is everyone eyeing me like that?"

"Uh because you're 15 minutes early to classes," Alya stated as if it were painfully obvious, "I wonder if it had anything to do with the concert you went to."

"If you must know, I had a wonderful time at Jagged's concert thank you," Marinette said trying to sound calm and collected, but the ever growing smile on her face betrayed her.

Until Chloe walked up to speak with them, "Finally got a proper alarm clock? About time. Your panting was becoming a distraction for us all."

"Actually my new boyfriend helped me with arriving to school on time," Marinette replied.

Chloe scoffed at the statement, "You really expect us to believe that story? You and your fantasies."

Alya wanted to intervene, but Marinette stopped her by saying, "It's true, and I can prove it."

Marinette proceeded to show the text that was sent by Adrien reminding her to be awake at the time she requested. However she briefly forgot that she saved his contact info as 'Hot Stuff' so only Alya knew who sent the text. Within seconds she had her classmates cheering for her with the exception of Chloe, and Sabrina. Though it was evident that Chloe didn't like the fact that her rival had already gotten a boyfriend while she was still single. So she attempted to discredit her again, "If you really do have a boyfriend, why don't you prove it by bringing him here?"

Unfortunately for the young blondie, that ended up working against her as well. Right after she said that, Adrien had just arrived in the classroom with Nino. Both were caught off guard by the massive crowd surrounding Marinette. It wasn't clear to Nino why they gathered in such a manner, but to Adrien, the reason was all too obvious. Even still he decided to make sure, "What's going on here? Seems like we missed something."

Suddenly, all of the attention was drawn to Adrien, And Nino. And now Marinette was left with a moral conundrum to deal with. She could either reveal that she was now dating Adrien finally, thus giving into Chloe's pressure, and sparing her more pain from failed attempts to get with him. Or she could keep the relationship a secret so Chloe could continue trying, and hold off revealing for her sake. However, her choice was made for her when Chloe approached Adrien, saying, "Hey Adrikins, can you believe that Marinette is making up stories about having a boyfriend?"

Adrien then became confused, "Uh Chloe…it's not a made up story."

While Nino looked shocked, everyone else became confused. That didn't stop Chloe from being rude, "So she even has you fooled? She can't prove that it's true."

"Okay, you call him then," Marinette said as she handed Chloe the phone which showed the contact 'Hot Stuff' ready to call, "See if I really am lying."

"Fine," Chloe said as she took the phone. She wasted no time hitting the call button on the phone and placed it on speaker so all could hear who answers. As she waited for the person to answer, she maintained a smug expression, thinking that she caught her lying. The expression changed when the whole class heard the soft ringing of another phone, and all began to check their own pockets. They only stopped checking when Adrien showed them his own phone, and who was calling.

Adrien happily showed them all the contact who was calling him. He showed that it was saved under the name 'Princess' which could've been anyone. However the caller ID picture was of him and Marinette at Jagged's concert, the photo being taken by Jagged himself. To further prove Marinette right, he answered his phone in case people thought he was getting a call from someone else. As he answered, everyone heard his voice through Marinette's phone saying, "Now that she's proven herself honest, can you please hand my girlfriend her phone back?"

No one knew how to react after Adrien hung up, and Marinette took her phone back. Some of them wanted to join Alya who was currently wearing a look that said 'Take that Chloe'. Others wanted to cheer in seeing that Adrien finally stopped being oblivious of Marinette's feelings towards him. And a few were too scared to react because they didn't know what Chloe would do. All Chloe could do in reaction to this news was say, "You're dating her? Over me?"

Adrien became sympathetic towards his old friend, "Look Chloe, I'm sorry. You'll always be my friend, but I just don't feel the same way about you."

They all waited for things to get ugly, and almost joined Alya in protecting Marinette from Chloe's reaction since they didn't know what would happen next. Was she going to physically assault Marinette, or just scream at the bluenette? Was she going to shout Adrien, or just continue to insult his new girlfriend. Rather than do any of these things, she simply left the room with the blankest expression that they've ever seen her have.

Before they could do anything about it, classes began for them. However, as the day progressed, everyone noticed that Chloe was nowhere to be seen. And only two people out of their whole class were concerned as to where Chloe was. While Adrien was worried for how his friend was taking the news, Marinette was afraid that Chloe would be akumatized again. So they became a little more antsy as time went on, and they couldn't find Chloe.

When classes did end, Marinette met up with Adrien who was already on his phone, and asked, "Who are you calling?"

"Chloe," Adrien answered as he pulled the phone away from his ear, "I called her twice and she hadn't answered."

"You think she's okay? She barely reacted to us dating."

"Honestly, I'm not sure. Hopefully she's able to move forward but I've never seen her like that."

"Maybe someone should go see how she's doing."

"The only person that would probably be willing to is me, and I'm busy the entire day," Adrien sighed, "Do you think you can check on her?"

Marinette nodded, "Might not be pleasant but I'll see how she's doing."

"Thanks," Adrien said as he kissed her forehead, "Let me know how it goes."

As Adrien rode off in his car, Marinette made her way over to Chloe's place. She made sure to text her parents first before taking off to Chloe's place. To make the trip go faster, she briefly transformed into Ladybug, and detransformed again once she made it to the front door. However, just as she was about to knock on Chloe's door, she hesitated. What could she say? What should she say? What was she going to say?

Her thought was interrupted when Chloe answered the door. Marinette was pleased that she wasn't akumatized but her relief was gone when she saw how Chloe appeared. Her hair was in a mess rather than in the usual ponytail, and the mascara running down her face indicated that she was crying. Just looking at her made Marinette feel overwhelming guilt. Thankfully she seemed okay to talk when she said, "Come in."

After Marinette entered her room, she noticed it was in worse shape than Chloe. Whatever stuffed animals she had in her room were either ripped up or tossed around. Several of the pictures were scattered on the ground, and her cosmetics were tossed everywhere to the point that they had to be careful not to step on any of those along with the broken glass. Maybe it would've been better if an akuma did attack. Marinette returned her attention to Chloe, and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that this would hurt you as much as it did."

"I know," Chloe replied as she sat down on her mess of a bed, "Honestly I shouldn't even be surprised."

Marinette looked confused, "What do you mean?"

"I noticed how Adrien was looking at you the past few weeks and if he didn't have a crush on you then, he was starting to. Just you being around him seemed to brighten his day. I was never able to do that with him even though I desperately wanted to. I guess I knew that I had already lost, but I hoped that I still might have a chance. But obviously I didn't since he chose you."

With that final statement, all Marinette could feel was sympathy, and guilt. After she finally managed to win Adrien over, she forgot how Chloe would react. A part of her saw it as justice for how horrible she was to Marinette, but it still made her feel horrible. And honestly, she wouldn't have blamed Chloe for being angry with her since they both wanted Adrien. Marinette attempted to comfort her, but Chloe interrupted the attempt.

"I'll be fine. I just need to process my emotions a little more. This doesn't make us friends by any means Dupain-Cheng. But it does mean that you two dating is a reality that I'll have to cope with. And to be honest, I do appreciate you stopping by."

Marinette smiled, and said just before she left, "Well I hope things will get better between all of us soon."

With that, Marinette took her leave. Little did she know that Chloe was actually smiling when she left. However, rather than a friendly smile, she had a devious look about her. After all, how could she not? Her plan worked perfectly.

What the others didn't know was that Chloe setup the whole reaction to distract Marinette, and Adrien while Sabrina once again worked to find ammunition to use against the bluenette. The tears were from some eye drops, and the rest wasn't so much out of rage as it was careful planning. She was just lucky that Marinette didn't question the lack of an akuma. Once she saw Marinette leave the building from her balcony, she texted Sabrina who gave her the green light. "Things will get better Marinette," Chloe thought out loud, "Just not for you."

Meanwhile,

Marinette just finished a text chat with Adrien about Chloe. He was glad to hear that she was going to be okay though sad that they may never be friends. She wanted to keep chatting with him but unfortunately time wasn't willing at the point. Chloe's place was a fair distance from Marinette's so when Marinette finally arrived home, it was already time for dinner. Which meant that right after she finished texting Adrien, she had to go on patrol.

She was quick to transform into Ladybug to get patrol started but she could already feel the awkwardness before it could even arrive. She didn't know how to tell her superhero partner that she now has a boyfriend. Especially when that superhero partner has had feelings for almost a year now. She knew that she had to address it at some point, and wanted to do it sooner than later but it became harder than she initially expected. So she decided to relax a little by turning on some music via her MP3 player that she brings in case she's waiting for Chat Noir again.

She got one song in before she sang along with another. The music made her forget that she was on a rooftop singing and dancing to music being played in her ears. It also prevented her from once again noticing that she had an audience hidden from her sight. This time, she managed to get five songs in before she noticed someone else there. This time, he made himself known by at the right time, saying, "Marinette?"

When she heard that, she froze as still as a statue. Ladybug turned off her MP3 player, and turned towards the source. Her heart raced when she saw who was listening and who called her by her real name. All she could say was his name, "Chat?"


	6. Dreams come true, nightmares too

Chapter 6

The silence between them felt like an eternity. One could hear both heroes's hearts pounding like thunder in a storm. One would think that they literally became statues based on how they were able to remain so still for so long. Which in truth was just five minutes before Chat began to wear the biggest grin on his face that he could muster. This worried Ladybug, "Why are you smiling?"

Chat began to laugh, "Because I'm shocked at how I never saw it before. How my princess, and my lady are the same person."

"How did you find out?" Ladybug asked.

In truth, she wanted to deny that she was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She wanted to make him think he was wrong. But she knew that simply making the attempt alone to try and fool him now is a waste of time. Chat Noir wasn't stupid, though he was persistent, to an annoying degree, so she expected her good luck to run out at some point. Guess today was that day.

"Well the biggest thing was your angelic voice," Ladybug rolled her eyes at the comment, "Not to mention, now that I think of it, you don't have much of a disguise."

Ladybug huffed, "Shut up. It fooled everyone else."

"Except I'm not everyone else princess," Chat said, his smile seemed to grow wider.

"Wait a minute," Ladybug paused, remembering what was mentioned earlier, "How did my voice give it away? You never heard me sing before."

"Au contraire mon amour," Chat answered, "If I recall correctly, we discovered that our voices paired well together."

Ladybug was confused by the statement. She only sang with one other person and Chat was nowhere near the two at the time. Then it hit her on what he meant, and her face turned bright red. Not only did her partner find out her real identity, but she found out his as well. To test this, she replied, "Adrien?"

Chat let out a small laugh, "For a second, I thought you were going to say Jagged Stone."

Ladybug couldn't believe what she was hearing. This entire time she had been fighting side by side with the same boy she had been stuttering around for ever since she'd known him. And to make things worse, while she had been trying to get him to like her, his alter ego had been asking her out while flirting with both sides of her. Not to mention the fact that she had actually kissed Adrien during the attack with Dark Cupid without realizing it was him. And that last fact alone had drained all color from her face completely.

Something that Chat was quick to pick up on, "Ladybug, are you okay?"

His only answer was her fainting in his arms.

When she woke up again, she overheard chatter from what sounded like two small voices. Despite being a little groggy she could figure out that the voices were the kwamis talking to each other. However her attention immediately shifted to the person sitting beside her. When she looked around, she noticed Adrien sitting at her bedside. When Adrien noticed she had woken up, he asked, "You okay Princess?"

Marinette nodded as she sat up from her bed slowly, "I can't believe that you've been Chat Noir this entire time."

"Yeah some days I can't believe it either," the cat kwami replied.

This led to Tikki chastising him, "You know it's polite if you introduce yourself first."

The cat sighed, "Hi, I'm Plagg. Adrien's kwami. Do you have any cheese?"

Adrien, And Tikki both looked at Plagg with unamused expressions while Marinette just giggled, "Yeah, we have some downstairs. I can grab a few of them."

"Actually I'll go get them," Adrien offered, "Your parents know that I'm here already."

Before Marinette could request more of an explanation, he was already on his way downstairs to the bakery. Meanwhile, she was left staring at the two kwamis, waiting for one of them to say something. Unfortunately, they looked at her with the same expectation. So they were left in an awkward silence, both unsure how to get out of it. Finally, Plagg spoke up, "You know you truly do have a great singing voice. Adrien wouldn't stop talking about it for days."

Marinette smiled once more, "Thanks Plagg. I didn't realize I had two listeners that weren't Tikki."

"You'd be amazed at the things I could hear in Adrien's pocket," Plagg pointed out, "Though I must say I think my eyes might need to be adjusted after seeing this."

Marinette turned around, and squeaked when she realized what Plagg meant. After she started dating Adrien, she promised to take down the posters she had of him, and replace them with moments of the two of them together. So far she replaced a few of them like her laptop wallpaper to the Jagged Stone date, and the picture on her desk was one when it was just the two of them. But the rest of the Adrien stuff was all still as she left it which was in plain view for anyone who entered her bedroom. And she knew that there was no chance that Adrien didn't notice all of it on display.

"Probably a good thing that you two are dating," Plagg said, "Otherwise this would just look like the work of a stalker."

"Plagg!" Tikki flew over to thump him hard on the head before turning to Marinette, "Ignore him. He's actually been hoping that you two would become a couple."

Marinette decided to ask another question to confirm her assumption, "Did Adrien see this stuff?"

"Yeah he saw all of it," Plagg answered honestly before revealing a devious grin, "But if you ever want vengeance, I'd be happy to reveal all of his secrets to you like his Ladybug poster."

Just a moment after, Adrien appeared with a plate of cheesy pastries. However Plagg looked at him as if he was playing a cruel joke. "Oh Stop it," Adrien said as he set the plate on the desk, "It has cheeses in it."

Marinette nodded, "It's true. I actually made a few of these."

With that reassurance, Plagg shot over to the plate, and took a bite of the first pastry. The look on his changed to pure bliss as he began eating the rest of the treats. It was clear that Plagg enjoyed the food as he indulged in what remained. All Marinette could do was watch as the tiny cat kwami had swallowed everything, and almost ate the plate itself at one point. When he finished, Plagg looked to Adrien saying, "If you dump her, I'm staying with her."

All but Plagg began to laugh at that statement. However, the Laughter for Marinette died down rather quickly. They still needed to properly address the fact that they both found out each other's identities. And when Adrien saw this, his smile began to slowly fade away as well. He put his arm around Marinette, and said, "I'm sorry that this happened. I know you preferred to keep our identities a secret from each other."

"I'm not upset about that," Marinette replied, "I'm just in shock."

Adrien became confused, "What do you mean?"

"Well we just bond so well with or without the masks on. For the most part at least. It just never occurred to me how we compliment each other they way we did," Marinette looked to the kwamis, "By the way, has this sort of thing happened in the past?"

This time Tikki answered first, "Occasionally, though some of our chosens never find out who each other are."

Marinette shook her head, "No I mean have other Ladybugs and Chat Noirs…you know…"

"Fallen in love with each other?" Tikki finished, "Absolutely. Though it's not always the case. They either end up as close friends, or happily married the rest of their lives."

"Though there were a few times where we both ended up choosing siblings," Plagg chimed in, "But either way, it shows that you two will forever have a bond that will never be broken. Sorry princess, but you're stuck with him."

Adrien gave his kwami an angry glare. But before he could object, he felt Marinette kiss his cheek. He turned to look at her and saw that she was smiling. Then she hugged him, saying, "I'm not complaining."

Adrien hugged back, "Me neither. Though I got to admit, it's a little funny knowing that you've been rejecting me because you had a crush on the other me."

Marinette looked sad at that statement, "I'm sorry about that by the way."

"Well what's important is that it all worked out for the better," Adrien smiled, causing her to smile as well.

The two spent the rest of their time talking about how they were surprised that they never saw the truth before. Adrien did have a point when he mentioned that the masks weren't much of a disguise. However, when they tried asking the kwamis about how no one recognized the obvious qualities like Marinette's pigtails, they never got a clear answer. And from the way they've been circling around the conversation, it was assumed that the question will remain unanswered. So they just continued bonding until it was time for Adrien to head home.

Meanwhile, Sabrina was on her way to meet with Chloe. The entire time, she was looking suspicious as if she committed a crime. And to be fair, she did have reason to look such a way. Though she was lucky that she made it to Chloe's place without getting stopped. And she was lucky that Chloe answered the door on the first knock.

As soon as Sabrina walked in, Chloe asked, "Where is it?"

"In here," Sabrina answered as she opened her bag to show Chloe, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Call it justice," Chloe said as she grabbed the bag from Sabrina, "It'll teach her to know her place."

"It just seems a bit mean," Sabrina worriedly remarked.

All it did was earn her an angry glare from Chloe, "She took Adrien from me. Now shut up, and get the plan ready."

While reluctant to do so, Sabrina agreed as she got to work once again doing Chloe's bidding. When her part was done, Chloe got ready to do her part.


	7. You be the Hero, and I'll be the villain

Chapter 7

To say that Adrien was on cloud 9 was an understatement. Last night was perhaps his second favorite night, or at the very least it's tied for most favorite. Not only did he find out Ladybug's real identity, but it was his own girlfriend. So he didn't have to worry about telling Ladybug about his date anymore because it was her anyway. He probably couldn't be happier unless they ended up married. Not even the heavy rainstorm outside could bring down his mood.

"Will you quit daydreaming?" Plagg called out, "You're going to be late for classes."

That was all it took for Adrien to focus so he could get on with his day. Thankfully, it didn't take long for him to be ready for school. Despite having to patrol Paris almost every night, he still managed to get up at a good time. He was mostly just sad that his conversation with Marinette ended so soon last night when she realized something was missing from her room, though she never said what. Since she assumed that it would be at school, she said that she'd arrive early so he could find him, and text him when she was there.

By the time the car began driving to the school, he still didn't receive the text. So he texted her first.

[To Princess – From Cool Cat: Hey milady. Find what you were looking for?]

He waited for 5 minutes before texting again.

[To Princess – From Cool Cat: Mari are you there?]

He would've sent another text if the car hadn't already stopped at the school entrance. He met with Alya who seemed to have been speaking with Nino. While he greeted them with a smile, they looked at him with deep concern, and that worried him. So he began walking towards his friends, and asked, "What's up?"

"Marinette just took off, and Nino was about to explain why," Alya answered, allowing Nino to tell them both what happened.

"Okay So Marinette arrived at the same time as me, and asked if I saw a book of hers," Nino began to explain.

Adrien looked confused, "A book?"

"Her diary," Nino clarified, "She was looking for it at the school."

Suddenly it clicked for Adrien what she meant last night. She left early because she couldn't find her diary in her room. That explained why she looked so nervous when they were talking. But it didn't explain why she took off in the pouring rain just as classes were about to begin. So he had to ask, "Did she manage to find it?"

"Yes she did," Nino said, "But in the worst way possible."

"What do you mean?" Alya asked, worried about the answer.

"Someone else found the diary, and rather than return it to the proper owner…" Nino paused.

However, Adrien was getting impatient, "What happened Nino?"

Knowing it'd be worse if he didn't say, Nino answered reluctantly, "Someone ripped out pages from Marinette's diary, made copies of them, and taped them on the walls of the school."

Both Adrien, and Alya were speechless. And both were beyond livid at the answer that was given to put things lightly. It only got worse as Nino continued, "All Of the pages were embarrassing entries, but I managed to collect a few of them. Unfortunately, that didn't stop Marinette from running away with tears running down her face."

Adrien's face morphed to show pure rage, "Any idea who did this?"

"Just assumptions right now," Nino answered, "And unfortunately, I have one of my own."

(Author's note: Things get darker and unpleasant at this point, so heads up)

Meanwhile, Chloe was currently at her locker feeling proud of herself. After all, in her mind she managed to remind her rival of her place. However she didn't notice Adrien walking up towards her because her locker door was in the way. But that changed when he was standing right in front of her after the door closed. This made her jump from shock, until she smiled at seeing him after, "Adrikins you startled me."

Adrien however looked unfazed as he held Marinette's diary entries in front of her face, and asked, "Did you do this?"

Chloe attempted to move the papers away, and said, "Adrien Who-"

"Answer the damn question Chloe," Adrien harshly commanded, "Did you post these on the walls of the school?"

Chloe managed to catch on that Adrien wasn't in the mood for her flirting, and answered defensively, "Yes but Adrien did you see-"

"No I didn't," Adrien interrupted again, "Because it's none of my business what she writes in her diary."

Chloe scoffed in response, "Come on Adrien. Someone like her-"

This time Adrien interrupted her by slamming his fist into the lockers, silencing her immediately. This also caused all of their classmates to turn their attention to them. While off in the distance, Nino, and Alya looked at each other knowing that they had to do something. Unfortunately the crowd surrounding the two blond teens prevented them from even reaching their friend. It also gave Adrien more time to vent his thoughts to Chloe.

"Stop insulting her. I'm sorry if me being with Marinette upsets you, and I understand you being frustrated by that. But doing something like this is never an acceptable response. This is something I would expect from a little child. Not from you. What could've possibly gone through your head to make you think that this was okay?"

Chloe was stunned silent once more. She wanted to speak up and say something but whatever words were about to be said had died in her throat. She looked away from Adrien as she tried to find an answer to get her out of this situation. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't come up with anything to say. And all she could feel was regret building up inside her.

"Forget it," Adrien said as he grabbed the remaining pages from Chloe's hands, "If you want to fix this, let me know when you've finally decided to grow up."

And with that, Adrien took off past the crowd. Rather than remain, the crowd had dispersed with a few people giving Chloe glares of disappointment, and anger. Chloe watched as Nino picked up the ring that flew from Adrien's hand when he hit the lockers, and left after his friend without even addressing Chloe's presence. This left the young blond feeling an emotion she never knew she could feel: guilt. And the only person willing to speak to her was Alya who was currently standing next to Chloe, now sat down on the ground, fighting back tears.

"Get up," Alya demanded with her arms crossed, "We're going to Marinette's house, and you're going to fix this."

Chloe didn't even try to protest as Alya pulled her forcefully back onto her feet. She wanted to apologize to Alya, but she knew it'd be a waste of time. She knew that Alya wouldn't want to hear what was said unless it was said to Marinette. And even then, she'd be lucky to make things better again after she took things so far. As far as her classmates were concerned, she was now the biggest pariah of their school. And she felt hopeless on how to remedy this.

Meanwhile, Alya got out her phone, and realized that she received a text from Marinette.

[To Ace Reporter – From Fashion Queen: Get Adrien, And head to the bakery. Now.]

Alya wasted no time relaying the message to her boyfriend.

[To DJ Boy – From Ace Reporter: When you find Adrien, head to the bakery.]

After she hit the send button, she was getting a call from Marinette which she quickly answered. As soon as she did, she said, "Hey Mari. We're on our way. Are you okay?"

The response wasn't from Marinette but rather from another voice, "Alya, Marinette's been akumatized."

This made Alya stop both her and Chloe dead in their tracks, "What? Wait, who are you?"

"I'll explain once you get here," the voice replied, "But please hurry."

The line disconnected, and Alya noticed a response from Nino.

[To Ace Reporter – From DJ Boy: That May not be possible at the moment. I'll meet you at the bakery though.]

"What happened?" Chloé asked with genuine concern.

Alya refused to look at her as she answered, "Marinette's been akumatized."

With that statement, both girls ran to the bakery after Alya sent the same message to Nino. Thankfully when they entered, Marinette's parents weren't around to berate Chloe for what she did. The two hurried to her bedroom, and looked around to see who was there. The fact that Marinette was nowhere to be seen was rather bittersweet for both of them. They were pleased not to fight an akuma, but they still wanted to save Marinette from the corruption.

"What do we do now?" Chloé asked as she looked around trying to find a clue as to where Marinette could've gone.

"Alya?" The two teens heard a small voice call out.

As they looked around, they noticed a small red creature with black spots popping out of Marinette's desk rather suddenly. The quick appearance startled both of them, but Alya was able to recover quickly. "You must've been the one that called me on Marinette's cell phone," Alya said, "Who, And what are you?"

"My name is Tikki, I'm Ladybug's kwami," Tikki answered as she grabbed a pair of earrings that she kept in the drawer where she hid, "And right now, Ladybug needs your help."

"Marinette is Ladybug?" Alya and Chloe asked simultaneously.

Before they got their answer, Nino appeared from the trapdoor out of breath. On his shoulder was a black cat around the same size as Tikki. While the girls tried to recover from the surprising revelation, Tikki asked the new arrivals, "Where's Adrien?"

"An akuma got to him," Nino answered between breaths, "Plagg told me everything."

Then another revelation clicked for both girls, "Adrien is Chat Noir?"

"There's no time for the shock," Tikki said as she flew over to Alya, "Just please put these on."

"What do we do?" Alya asked as she replaced her earrings with the ones Tikki handed to her.

While she did so, the black cat apparently named Plagg began to explain, "You and Nino will have to purify the akumas that were sent to Marinette, And Adrien."

Nino pulled Adrien's ring from his pocket, and looked to Plagg, "You sure this will still work?"

Plagg nodded, "As long as you wear the miraculous, you can become Ladybug and/or Chat Noir."

"Just remember to return them once the deed is done," Tikki said.

Chloe decided to chime in as well, "What can I do to help?"

Suddenly, Tikki flew over to a blank notepad, wrote something on the first page and handed to Chloe, saying, "Go to this address, and say that we sent you. There's a man there that can help keep you safe."

Chloe nodded as she watched Nino struggled to put the ring on. He looked to Plagg, and asked, "Is there a way to fix this? Adrien's hands are smaller than mine."

Plagg closed his eyes as he put a paw over the ring, and caused it to expand to fit on Nino's hand. Before the others could question this, they heard a loud thump from outside. All three of the teens rushed out of the bakery with the two kwamis in tow to see where it came from. After they heard the noise a second time, they found the source of the noises. Though they had wished dearly that they hadn't.

Off a short distance away were two figures. The first was a man on what looked like a horse made of a dark aura. He had on a full suit of black armor but instead of a helm, there was a good over his head. In his left hand was a lance while a long sword hung on his left side. When the dark knight raised his head, his eyes were glowing green and over his mouth was a cloth mask.

The other figure was a woman in a dark red dress. Adorned over her head was a black hood with a Ruby circlet worm underneath it. Covering her arms were black sleeves while her fingernails were a bright red. In her left hand was a book while in her right was a quill that looked like what was used to right with in old times. When they saw her face, they noticed her hair was Snow White while her eyes were a burning ruby red.

The two figures were clearly the akumatized forms of Marinette, and Adrien. And they had their focus directed on the three teens in their path.

"More lovely readers come to hear the many stories of Scheherazade," Marinette, or rather Scheherazade, said in a rather menacing tone that frightened the spectators, "Such a grand treat, don't you agree Chevalier?"

Adrien, now known as Chevalier, provided his own response, "Indeed my lady. And the youth hath brought the foul wench to us as well. Double the treat if I May so say."

Alya spoke up first, "Marinette I know you're in there somewhere. Please, don't do this. You're stronger than Hawkmoth. You can fight this."

Scheherazade simply gave a dark laugh which chilled all three teens to the core, "Of course I can resist him. I just don't want to."

Scheherazade then began to write down in her book. This led to walls building up around the three teens. Before they could close them in, the three ran to an alley and hid from the sight of both akumas. Alya looked to Chloe, and said, "Chloe, you need to reach that address now."

"What about you two?" Chloé asked, the Fear highly noticeable in her voice.

"We're the temporary Ladybug, and Chat Noir," Nino said as he glanced at the ring on his hand, "We can handle this."

Chloe nodded as she ran towards where the address would lead her. As she took off, she noticed a flash of light behind her. She figured that was Nino, and Alya changing into the superheroes but she didn't have time to look. All she could do was run and pray that everything would be okay.


	8. Story for the Ages

**Sorry about the late arrival. And also sorry if this chapter doesn't do as well. I'm not the best with combat scenes.**

Chapter 8

Chloe ran for what felt like miles continuously searching for the place Tikki pointed out. She had to pause a few times to catch her breath. While she stopped, she witnessed Alya and Nino as Ladybug and Chat Noir fighting against Scheherazade and Chevalier. It was clear that they weren't seasoned veterans when it came to fighting akumss but they were able to hold their own. At least they gave Chloé some time to find the place where she can hide.

Following the GPS app on her phone, she traced the location back to a massage parlor. Chloe stopped her running, and looked at the paper she received from Tikki. Surely enough she typed in the right address. "She wanted me to hide out here?" she thought out loud. Then she looked behind her and noticed a pack of wolves running at her, "Better than the alternative."

She began sprinting towards the massage parlor but was stopped when a winged figure flew past her. The figure, being Scheherazade with wings, landed on the ground in front of her as the wolves caught up with Chloe. She was now stuck between a pack of wolves waiting to pounce, and the akumatized version of her rival who probably wants her head mounted on a stake. All Chloe could do was watch as Scheherazade slowly inches towards her, "Strange. Usually the antagonist would stay and fight. The cowering would happen after they were defeated."

Chloe got down on her knees and began to beg with tears in her eyes, and fear for her life, "Marinette please. I'm so sorry I hurt you. I didn't mean to take things so far. Please don't kill me."

Scheherazade began to laugh evilly as she pulled her hood off her head, "You thought I was going to kill you? No, Chloe. I intended remind you of your place in my story. Simply a footnote. My true target is acquiring the miraculouses from Ladybug and Chat Noir. And when that is done, I'll make you wish I killed you. Right now, I just want to hear you scream."

Suddenly as Scheherazade was about to write something in her book, she felt something the around her wrist. When it was pulled away from the book, both women looked to the source. To Chloe's delight, and Scheherazade's displeasure, it was Alya/Ladybug restraining the akuma. However, she didn't give Chloe time to admire the heroic act. She kept her grip tight on the line, and cried out to Chloe, "Don't just stand there! Get moving!"

Chloe took off until she heard singing coming from Scheherazade. That's when she noticed the civilians watching the battle turn menacing. They were looking at Chloe as if they were ready to lynch her. Even Alya/Ladybug was struggling to block out Scheherazade's entrancing voice. At least until Nino/Chat Noir silences her by cupping her mouth with his hands, saying, "Sorry bookworm. While your voice is nice, I prefer my own music."

"Unhand my lady villainous rogue!" Chevalier cried out as he swung his sword at Nino/Chat. Thankfully he just managed to miss but in the confusion, Scheherazade realized that Chloe had managed to escape. Suddenly the akuma heard Hawkmoth speak in her head, "Follow the blond. She could be of use to us yet."

Scheherazade smiled evilly and said, "Chevalier, handle these two. I must find my lovely little reader. She's just been upgraded to high priority."

"As my lady commands," Chevalier said as he began attacking the heroes while Scheherazade left to find Chloe.

"She's going for Chloe," Nino/Chat pointed out, "I got the tinman if you can take Red Riding Hood."

"Now I see why Ladybug rolls her eyes at Chat Noir usually," Alya/Ladybug remarked as she left to save Chloe, and stop the akuma.

Meanwhile, Chloe managed to make it inside the building, and was immediately greeted at the front door. The person to greet her was a rather small chinese man who looked to be reaching the older years. He simply looked at her with worry as she was out of breath, her makeup was running down her face, and her ponytail was a mess. Not to mentioned she looked absolutely terrified because of what almost happened to her. The man slowly walked up to her, and said, "Are you Alright my dear?"

Deciding to take a chance, Chloe assumed he knew the kwamis, and said, "I was sent here by Tikki. There are two akumas who use to be Ladybug and Chat Noir currently after me."

The old man looked at Chloe with shock, and asked, "Do you have the miraculouses?"

"No," Chloe answered, thankful that she assumed correctly, "They were given to two other friends."

The old man smiled in response, "Good. Wait in the back room this way."

Chloe followed the old man to a room in the far back of the parlor that said employees only. He opened the door, and led Chloe inside before closing the door behind her as she entered. Unfortunately, the lights were still of in the room so she was now surrounded by empty darkness. Thankfully she still had her phone on her so there was some source of light that she could use. She used her phone to look around for a light switch, and when she found it, her face morphed to one of complete surprise.

The room appeared to be designed as a sparring area. On the walls were a collection of sparring weapons such as staves and sticks as well as some fencing gear. Closer to the center of the room were training dummies of different sizes. There was also a target off to the side with a bunch of old arrows in different spots. And located in the far corner of the room was a chest which Chloe assumed was loaded with more armaments.

"I'm definitely talking with that old man after this," Chloe said, worried about what she got herself into. In another corner of the room, she noticed security cameras that were pointed inside the building in each room. She began watching the footage, hoping that an idea would come to her before the akumas found her.

Meanwhile, things weren't going so great for the temporary Ladybug, and Chat Noir. They both had their hands full dealing with Chevalier while Scheherazade had entered the massage parlor. As Alya/Ladybug tried to follow, the villain created a barrier preventing anyone from entering, or exiting. All of which Chloe was able to witness via the cameras. However what really caught her attention was the conversation that she heard.

"There's a great deal of energy surrounding a room in this building," Hawkmoth said to Scheherazade via telepathic communication.

"I feel it too," Scheherazade pointed out, "It feels similar to that of Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"Find the other miraculouses and bring them to me," Hawkmoth commanded.

"Yes Hawkmoth," Scheherazade replied, "I shall return with the other miraculouses after I take the ones from our brave heroes."

"Excellent," Hawkmoth then broke the communication link between them.

What the akuma didn't realize was that Chloe was listening to the whole thing. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. There were other miraculouses hidden away in the building? How many were there? And how was she able to know what the energy was like?

Much like other akumatized victims, Chloe only had a vague recollection of what she did as Antibug. It was like she was dreaming the entire time the akuma controlled her mind. She also noticed how other akumatized victims weren't able to recall much of their memories before being corrupted. Hopefully the same applied to Marinette and Adrien or else the world would be royally screwed. However, something else caught her attention as well.

Chloe noticed something familiar about the book always in Scheherazade's hand. It looked so small like there were pages missing from it. And the pattern looked a rather dark rose color. Then it clicked in her brain that the book was the diary that she took from Marinette. And another realization struck her,"The akuma is in the diary."

She then had an idea to try and stop Scheherazade. Not the greatest idea, but she clearly had to do something. Fortunately for her, Alya/Ladybug was able to smash the barrier and buy her time to get ready. "I heard that Scheherazade was a character who had one thousand tales to tell," Alya/Ladybug mocked, "Did you get writer's block or something?"

"How cute," Scheherazade retorted, "However, I'm feeling generous. Hand over your earrings, and I'll let your friends inside live."

"I have a better idea," a voice from behind them said.

Both women looked towards the source to find Chloe pointing a drawn bow, and arrow at Scheherazade. Alya/Ladybug was shocked at the heroic act coming from Chloe which hopefully was a sign of change down the road for the blond teen. Scheherazade however simply laughed at Chloe's choice of actions. After all she couldn't be expected to defeat an akuma by attempting to be like Robin Hood. Scheherazade then replied to her statement, "Do you plan to kill me with that thing?"

Chloe smiled back, "No. I plan to save you. After all, books can be rather dangerous."

Chloe subtly put some extra emphasis on the word 'books' hoping Alya/Ladybug would catch on. Thankfully she did, and realized that the akuma was in the book. However, before she could act, Scheherazade created a golem that tossed Alya/Ladybug away. When she tried to get back to Chloe, she was stopped by Chevalier who was still batting against Nino/Chat Noir. The only positive to dealing with Chevalier was that Alya/Ladybug was able to spot the akuma's location on Chevalier.

Meanwhile Chloe has already fired her arrow at the book, but it ended up getting caught by the book. Scheherazade then held the arrow in her hand, and said, "Not bad. Now let me show you a trick of mine."

Suddenly the arrow became surrounded by dark energy which grew in length. When the energy fades away, the arrow had changed forms. Instead the villain was now holding what appeared to be a rather large sword, long enough that she would need two hands to wield it. Though since she was akumatized, she probably didn't even need to hold it. Scheherazade closed the book, and placed it in the bag around her shoulder as she pointed the blade at Chloe, saying, "En garde."

Chloe then pulled another arrow from the quiver but could only watch as the bow was swatted out of her hand by Scheherazade. When the villain went to strike again, the blond evaded the attack, and pulled out a pair of training batons. Obviously this did nothing to intimidate Scheherazade, and actually made the villain laugh out of amusement. Until Chloe landed some hits on the dark author, causing the laughter to stop and the smile to fade. Chloe simply held the batons in a defensive position, and said, "Bring it on princess."

Meanwhile, the fight with Chevalier wasn't going as smoothly. However, it wasn't exactly expected to go too smoothly since it was the first time. That and Adrien had took up fencing so he made being Chat Noir look so easy in a fight, a fact that Nino had found out very quickly. But it was during this fight that Alya/Ladybug spotted something off on Chevalier's attire. Around the villain's right wrist was what looked like a charm bracelet which she assumed was made by Marinette, and that was when she realized that it was currently containing the akuma.

When she was able to get some of her footing back, Alya/Ladybug called upon her lucky charm. After the red flash disappeared, she found herself holding a slingshot. "How did she find a way to make this useful?" she thought out loud as she looked around for something to use it for.

It was only after glancing at Scheherazade fighting against Chloe that she had her plan. She managed to get Nino/Chat by her side, and said, "When I give the word, use cataclysm on the bracelet on Chevalier's wrist."

"Just say when," Nino/Chat replied as he fought off the dark knight.

Meanwhile, Scheherazade had just knocked Chloe on the ground, and was currently pointing the blade in her right hand at the blond while the diary was in her left hand. As she gave a brief laugh, she said, "Did you really think that a pathetic villain like you would be able to overpower me?"

Chloe smirked, "Who said I was trying to?"

Before she knew it, the book was knocked out of Scheherazade's hand and onto the floor next to Chloe. Thinking on her feet, the blond knocked the sword out of her opponent's grip, and used it to cut the book in half. This led to the villain crying out in defeat, and a dark butterfly flying out of the book.

The shouting distracted Chevalier who turned towards the evil storyteller, and cried out, "My lady!"

"Chat now!" Alya/Ladybug signaled as Nino/Chat activated his cataclysm and ripped the charm bracelet from the knight's wrist.

This in turn allowed the akuma to fly out of the bracelet so that Alya/Ladybug could purify it. After she did so, there was a wave of energy that returned everything to normal. The transformation faded leaving Nino, and Alya to faze out of being the heroes. Adrien was currently on his hands and knees back to his regular self once more. The same was true for Marinette though she was sitting on the ground with Chloe crouched in front of her.

When Marinette seemed completely back to normal, she noticed Chloe in front of her. And what she received afterward surprised her entirely. Rather than be insulting once more, Chloe was actually hugging her with tears running down her face. Leaving Marinette to feel a feeling she never had for Chloe before. She was feeling sympathetic towards her.

Between the sobs, Chloe began apologizing, "Marinette, I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you the way that I did. I was just jealous that Adrien chose you over me. This is all my fault. I'm so sorry."

The apology probably would've continued if Marinette didn't respond. A small part of her wanted the girl to feel bad about what she did. But then she looked at her friends who at one point were beyond furious with what happened, but now their expressions had all softened. When she sat their crying, Chloe expected Marinette to start hitting her, and insulting her. Instead, Marinette hugged her back, and said, "I forgive you."

Chloe briefly stopped crying, and said, "What? Really?"

"It did hurt that you had been trying to drive a wedge between Adrien and myself," Marinette explained honestly, "But the fact that you're genuinely apologizing about it now shows that there truly is part of you that's a good person. Probably the part that made Adrien be friends with you."

That was when the aforementioned model walked up to the pair, and said, "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have react the way I did. It was too harsh."

"Honestly, I don't blame you for how you reacted," Chloe replied as the girls pulled away from each other, and got up off the ground, "Not that I have much right to do so."

"How about instead we just move on?" Marinette suggested, "We call this rock bottom, and we work to improve. Instead of always fighting, let's try being friends for once."

Marinette extended a hand out to Chloe for her to shake. Truthfully she almost expected Chloe to tackle her to the ground with another hug. She saw the tears in bright blue eyes ready to run down her face once more. But instead the blond girl just took Marinette's hand and shook it, saying, "I'd like that."

Marinette began to let out a light friendly laugh while Chloe did the same. Even the other three joined in just before they noticed something else. Behind the group was the same old man that Chloe had met walking up to them. However, this time, he had a green kwami floating by his shoulder. Once all attention was directed towards him, the old man said, "I need all of you to come with me please."

"Master Fu," Marinette said as she ran up to him, "I'm sorry that this happened. And I understand if you want to take away Tikki from me but-"

"Take her away?" the old man, apparently known as Master Fu, interrupted, "I have no intention of taking her away. In fact, I have a better idea."

The five teens looked to each other as they followed Master Fu to the same room he led Chloe to. Though this was after Chloe had gathered the items she had taken out of the room to begin with. As she was putting the weapons back, she asked, "So why are we back here?"

The teens noticed Master Fu walk up to an old record player. He activated a switch which opened a hidden compartment in the base of the stand the device was on. After he opened the drawer, he pulled out an octagonal box, and said, "For this."


	9. New beginnings

Chapter 9

They all looked at Master Fu with confusion until he opened the box to reveal several smaller boxes. Nino, and Alya hadn't clued in on what the relevance was behind this container yet. However, Adrien And Marinette figured out immediately what was going to happen. Chloe eventually caught up after she noticed that two of the smaller boxes, specifically the red and black boxes, were missing from the center. When she realized what it was, she spoke up, "Is this the box for the rest of the miraculouses?"

Master Fu nodded much like a teacher would to their pupil after getting the correct answer. Meanwhile her other classmates were looking at her with complete surprise. Even Tikki, and Plagg were shocked that she figured it out so quickly. At first Chloe thought she spoke out of turn, but instead realized that they didn't know how she figured it out. So she decided to explain, "Scheherazade was looking for the other miraculouses, and I heard her mention them via the security footage over in the corner."

"Yes Chloe," Master Fu said, "These are the other miraculouses. Unfortunately, they're no longer safe here. So I shall leave the remaining kwamis with you Marinette."

As the old man handed Marinette the box, she took it and said, "Thank you Master Fu."

"Wait a minute," Alya chimed in, "How do you know Chloe's name?"

"I have observed each of you when I made the selection for the new heroes," Master Fu answered before pulling out two boxes, "Which brings me to why I brought you three back here."

"What do you mean?" Nino asked.

"I saw how you all rushed to defend your friends. And I've decided to entrust upon you three a miraculous for yourselves."

They all looked at each other with a mix of shock and excitement as Fu proceeded to hand the first box to Alya, and said, "This is for you Alya Cesaire."

Alya gently grabbed the box and slowly opened it to find a curved pendant on an orange padded interior. She pulled out the pendant and began to examine it with her friends. However her examination ended when she noticed an orange flash from the box which attracted the attention of all five teens. When the flash disappeared, there was an orange kwami that appeared to look like a fox floating in front of her. The kwami proceeded to introduce itself saying, "Hello there. My name is Trixx. Kwami Of illusion."

"Wow," Marinette said, "He's more cute than Plagg."

The teens, and Tikki all laughed while Plagg just pouted, "Yeah Yeah. Laugh it up."

"I believe they are," Trixx said with amusement before turning to face Alya, "So would you happen to be my chosen?"

"I guess so," Alya replied enthusiastically, "I'm Alya Cesaire."

While Alya was conversing with her kwami, Master Fu decided to continue, "Nino Lahiffe."

The DJ looked to the old man, and said, "Yes?"

Fu walked toward the young man, and removed his bracelet, handing it to Nino, and said, "I leave Wayzz, the kwami or protection, with you."

The green kwami floated in front of Fu, and said, "Master, are you sure?"

Master Fu nodded, "I think you two would be a perfect match."

Nino extended a hand to the kwami, and said, "I'll try not to disappoint."

Suddenly Wayzz and Nino were locked in a conversation of their own. This left Master Fu to approach Chloe with the other box, and say, "This is for you Chloe Bourgeois."

While the others were quick to accept the gifts, Chloe was more hesitant to accept hers, "You really think I'm ready for this?"

"At first I had my doubts about allowing this," Master Fu answered honestly, "But what happened today had proven that you are more than worthy to take this."

Eventually Chloe slowly reached out, and grabbed the box as if it were glass. When she opened it, she saw a comb inside on a yellow cushion. Though it looked like an ordinary silver comb, she was able to see that it was in the shape of a bee. Right as she was about to pick up the comb, there was a yellow flash, and a Bee-like kwami appeared. The kwami began speaking directly to her, "Hello my queen. My name is Pollen. Kwami Of subjection."

"Chloe Bourgeois," Chloe said as she extended a hand to the kwami to shake. While the others were getting to know their kwamis, Fu decided to speak directly to Adrien, And Marinette, "You all should probably head out soon. But feel free to return should you have any questions."

They all said their goodbyes to the old man, and departed on their way. However, instead of heading to their own homes, they agreed to meet up at Marinette's place. Thus they all contacted their parents to let them know that they would spend the night there. Marinette did the same with her parents by letting them know that they agreed to meet up and study because of the akuma. She also gave them notice that she was on good terms with Chloe now.

Alya got almost an immediate response to her staying with Marinette for the night which thankfully worked out well for her. Nino's parents agreed on the condition that he babysit his little brother whenever they ask him to. Chloe had no issue getting her father to agree to staying with a friend. And Adrien, while it took a bit to convince his dad, managed to get the green light to stay over as well though it was mostly because the boy said that it was solely for studying. So it was expected to be a full attendance for the new team.

This meant that they each had to return to their own homes. And Marinette needed time to get her room cleaned up. How they didn't notice her carrying in an octagonal box with Chinese writing covering it was beyond her. Maybe they thought it was a gift from Adrien or something. Either way, she was happy that she was able to hide it from her parents and avoid an awkward conversation.

When all four friends arrived at the bakery, unfortunately not before it got dark outside, they were all given a friendly greeting from Tom and Sabine. Alya, and Nino were rather accustomed to their usual greeting but Adrien and Chloe still needed to adjust to it. It gave Adrien more of a sense of what family should be like around each other. He may have been around the Dupain-Cheng couple a few times but it wasn't very often he was around them in their own home. It felt inviting like a real home should.

Chloe however was more shocked. She expected the couple to kick her out of the building for all of the cruel things she did to their daughter. Instead, they were welcoming her, and offering pastries left and right. At first she wanted to question why they were even allowing her to be in the same room as them but since they seemed ready to move on, Chloe decided to let it go. But before they could continue chatting with the parents, Marinette quickly led her friends upstairs to her room, and said good night to both of them.

Once they all made it up to the bedroom, and after all five kwamis popped out to say hello once more, Chloe decided to address her little elephant in the room, "I didn't expect your parents to forgive me."

Alya was quick to answer, "Well they aren't really ones to hold a grudge, and I believe they thought that you were misguided, or something."

Marinette then chimed after setting down a plate of sweets, "Not to mention I was able to explain to them the situation between us. Minus the akumas, and miraculous bits."

That was when Plagg flew down to the table with the treats, "Honestly I'm in shock that you guys didn't react differently to when you first met all of us."

"We had other priorities at the time," Nino explained, "And we got things clarified slightly by our own kwamis."

Just as Nino looked to Chloe and Alya, the two ladies nodded in agreement. Plagg simply shrugged, "Well that takes away the fun for us."

Without thinking, Plagg grabbed one of the treats from the plate, and took a bite out of it. Though after the first bite, the kwami froze in place as he looked down at what was protruding from his mouth. Adrien And Tikki expected him to spit out the pastry since it wasn't a wheel of cheese. Instead he swallowed the rest of the snack with an expression that indicated the treat to be tastier than the last one. He looked to Marinette, and said, "That was even more exquisite. How is that possible?"

"It was made with some pricey cheese," Marinette answered, "And a lot of it too."

Plagg immediately flew up and hugged the girl's cheek saying, "Forget Princess. You are a goddess."

"Easy there cheese brain," Tikki said as she detached the kwami from her chosen, "They are delicious but you should eat them sparingly."

"Cheese brain?" Alya asked before turning to look at Adrien, "Is that why you smell like cheese all the time?"

Adrien unhappily nodded, "I thought my cologne would cover most of the scent."

Chloe decided to chime in with another question, "So do all of the kwamis eat cheese like him?"

Pollen shook her head, "I believe Plagg is the only one that likes cheese."

Chloe gave an understanding nod, "Are you sure we shouldn't be calling him Mouse Noir then?"

All but Plagg gave a light chuckle at the joke, prompting the kwami to speak again, "Don't hate me because I have good taste."

Trixx, Wayzz, And Pollen all flew down to the table where the pastries lay. However, they were a little hesitant to take anything from the plate because they couldn't guess what the favor would be. They were pleased to see that Plagg's treats were kept off to the side away from the rest, Probably so they didn't mix. The three each decided to grab one of the many macaroons that matched their colors so Trixx was holding orange, Pollen took yellow, and Wayzz had green. Once they made their selections, each kwami took a bite, and froze.

The treats were the best thing that they had eaten in the eons that they have been active. But while they all enjoyed the snacks, the teens knew that they needed to address the hero stuff. So Marinette decided to kick off the conversation, "So since we're all here, is there any questions that you guys want to ask us?"

No one spoke up and it wasn't because they had no questions, but rather they didn't know what to ask first. Actually they were rather overwhelmed with questions that they wanted to ask, and were starting to find new ones the more they stayed silent. Eventually the silence got awkward and the kwamis were on the verge of running out of snacks. But someone had to ask something, and finally a question was thrown at the pair. "So how long have you two known each other's identities?" Chloé asked, breaking the silence.

Marinette answered first, "Earlier in the week after you found out we were dating."

Chloe nodded, "And how did it happen?"

Adrien answered this time, "I heard her sing."

"So it was good that I mentioned the karaoke place," Alya pointed out remembering when she first mentioned it to her, and how Marinette explained that she was singing with Adrien.

Nino decided to ask his question for the kwamis next, "So how often do the rest of you appear?"

Wayzz answered first, "Well Wang Fu had been our guardian for a long time, and he was my chosen when he started. But Ladybug, and Chat Noir were the main two while the rest were more supportive if that makes sense."

"I suppose it does," Alya Agreed before asking her question, "So What kind of abilities do the rest of you have?"

"That we can probably answer right now," Adrien answered, "After all, best to test this now before things get serious."

"What do you mean?" Nino asked.

"Well we usually patrol Paris at night and that's now," Marinette explained, "So now you guys will get to see what it's like being us."

Marinette double checked to see if the coast was clear, as far as her parents were concerned, while Adrien hopped out to the balcony. A few seconds later, they all noticed a flash from outside indicating Adrien just became Chat Noir. Eventually they all went out to the balcony with Marinette arriving last. One by one, Chat helped each of them get on the roof since the flash from the transformation would probably raise some questions from her parents. Although she was still safe to change into Ladybug from her balcony, which she did as soon as she was outside.

She joined up with the others, and said, "So who would like to transform first?"

Alya was quick to volunteer, and Chloe and Nino were quick to let her. But just as Alya was about to start, she hesitated for a second. She looked to Trixx, and asked, "How does this work for you?"

"What do you mean?" Trixx replied.

"I mean how do I become a superhero with you?" Alya clarified, "What do I say?"

"Oh right. Sorry," Trixx began instructing her, "Well you'd need my miraculous on you first. Then you say my name, followed by 'Let's pounce'. Give it a try."

"Okay," Alya said as she took a deep breath, "Trixx, let's pounce."

Suddenly, there was a bright orange flash which faded after a few seconds. When it faded away, Alya's entire appearance had changed. She was now wearing an orange jumpsuit similar to that of the other two heroes though more in the appearance of a fox while her hair was in a ponytail. She also had fox ears, and a fox tail which both had lifelike movement. She also had a mask over her face that matched the color scheme of her outfit with orange fading to white, and even her hair had the same effect.

"Wow," Alya said as she examined the changes, "This is so cool."

But what caught her attention the most was her pendant. Alya noticed that it changed colors to look more like a fox tail. Though what she found to be odd about it was that it was divided into five segments as the colors transitioned. "What's with the five portions on the miraculous?"

"It's an indicator," Chat Noir explained, "After you use your miraculous ability, you'll have five minutes before you'd need to recharge."

"Interesting," Alya replied, "So what's my miraculous ability?"

"That is something Trixx will let you know about," Ladybug answered, "By the way, what should we call you as the super fox?"

Alya thought about it before giving her answer, "How about Rena Rouge?"

"Interesting choice," Chat Noir grinned at the name choice, "So now that we have you here, I just want to know-"

"If you say what I think you're going to, I will smack you," Ladybug warned him.

"Fine," Chat decided to move on and looked over to Nino, and Chloe, "So who's next?"

"I'll go," Nino said, "Wayzz, Shell on."

Following Nino's statement was a bright green flash of light. When it faded, Nino was wearing a turtle themed jumpsuit with a shell on his back. Over his head was a green hood while his bracelet had changed to show five segments with the design of a whole turtle shell. Replacing his glasses was a green mask that covered his eyes. As he looked to his friends, he could see Chat trying to keep from laughing, which he addressed immediately, "What?"

"Sorry," Chat said attempting to regain his composure, "You just look like you're cosplaying for teenage mutant ninja turtles."

Nino frowned at the comment since it made the others laugh, "Well what's your excuse alley cat? Trying to be an off brand Salem?"

The others just looked at Nino confused, "Salem?"

"From Sabrina the teenage witch," Nino explained.

"Well anyway, have you thought about a hero name for yourself?" Ladybug asked.

"Carapace," Nino said with confidence.

Finally everyone looked at Chloe who still seemed hesitant. However, they all knew that she wasn't scared of the transformation. They knew she was hesitant because she thought she was unworthy to join, which wasn't a feeling that they didn't know how to help with when it came to the mayor's daughter. The only emotions that they ever witnessed come from Chloe was superiority, and distaste, but never once did they see humility. Thankfully, Pollen was quick to bolster her confidence, "It's okay my queen. I have complete faith in you."

Chloe nodded, and took a deep breath before saying, "Pollen, Buzz on."

And with that, a bright yellow light enveloped Chloe. When it faded, she appeared in a jumpsuit covered in an array of black and yellow. Around her waist was a top in the shape of a bee stinger while a black mask with yellow lining covered her eyes. Her hair had also changed to having a black streak run near the center of her hair. All she could do was admire her change, and say, "Not bad."

"Agreed, And I think we have a name for you in this form," Ladybug pointed out, "Queen Bee."

Chloe smiled and decided to go along with the name. However she had other questions to ask, "So what exactly happens on patrol?"

Before the duo answered, Rena Rouge was quick to chime in, "And we don't need to know about the little make out sessions."

The three began giggling as Ladybug groaned, "If you must know, we just check to see if there's crime around. Sometimes we spar when it's a really quiet night."

"Sparring?" Queen Bee asked curiously, "Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"

That's when the giggling went to laughter, except for Ladybug and Chat Noir. Both of which were beginning to regret their choices in friends. But they were pleased to see that Chloe, or Queen Bee in this case, was able to quickly feel welcomed into the group. Of course, that was a matter that they'd address later as opposed to when they were being teased. That's when Chat spoke up, "Okay you pervs, let's test your reflexes."

Chat then threw an object at the three which was easily caught by Rena. All three of them, including Rena, were surprised at how quick her reflexes were already. However, her surprise faded to slight annoyance when she found out that what was thrown was just a marshmallow. Tossing it to the side, she glared at Chat Noir, and said, "Was there a reason for throwing that?"

"It was to test your reflexes," Ladybug answered, "And we will be going over everything regarding your new superhero selves tonight." As soon as she finished talking, they got to work immediately. Before their patrol ended, they had all managed to make new discoveries, and realizations about their superhero personas.

(Author's notes: Here's another part where things differ from the canon)

Rena Rouge learned that the fox ears, and tail were actually very real to the touch much like with Chat and his cat traits. Not to mention she also had night vision like Chat Noir due to the fox traits. Her weapon was actually a flute on her back which was certainly able to hold up to strong hits. It also provided them with some music since Alya had apparently taken flute lessons when she was young. Evidence from how well she played it that night.

Her miraculous ability ended up being known as mirage. She was able to create an illusion that almost looked completely real. The only thing that proved it to be an illusion was the fact that it would disappear as soon as it was touched. Other than that part, the illusion was absolutely life like.

Carapace found out that he was actually able to take on heavier hits. Which they all found to be weird since his outfit didn't seem like the type capable of that. However, the turtle shell on his back was also able to be used as a shield, and as a weapon. This was discovered through Carapace throwing is shield around like it were a frisbee. And this weapon also came with an additional feature.

He learned that his miraculous ability was known as shell-ter. This ability allowed him to create a dome barrier that could protect a small group of people from harm. It proved to be really effective in defending from Chat's cataclysm. Though that simply weakened the shield until it couldn't be sustained anymore.

Finally, Queen Bee discovered some new features of her own. Her suit came with the ability to sprout wings allowing her to fly. And the top around her waist was actually able to be held by her hand as opposed to just sitting like a belt accessory. They all figured that the point on the top had a purpose for being there other than simply combat. It was only after she learned her miraculous ability that they knew what it was.

Her ability was apparently known as venom though thankfully it wasn't bad as it sounded. All it did was immobilize her target for a brief amount of time. However, it still hurt when Bee tested the ability on Carapace, or at the very least, it just hurt Carapace. And with her flying ability, she began to enjoy being Queen Bee, despite knowing that the term is usually derogatory in most cases.

Once their patrol/initiation ended, they all met back up in Marinette's bedroom and began bonding over some friendly competition. The new kwamis were able to get a better sense of what their chosens were like, and smiled at the camaraderie. Of course there were some moments of awkward silence when Plagg made a couple jokes about how Chloe use to be, prompting Marinette to tug the little cat's ear so he'd behave. Overall, it was a good night, but then they realized their next issue. When the weekend ended and they all had to go back to school.


	10. Back to School

Chapter 10

"Should I go make sure my Will is up to date?" Chloe said as she noticed that she was getting closer to the school building.

The weekend felt like it'd never end for four of the five members of the new miraculous team. Chloe was the only one who felt like it went by too quickly. But they all were nervous about going back to school after what happened last Friday. Especially considering the fact that they all would've heard that Marinette, and Adrien were akumatized since Alya posted the battle on the Ladyblog with Marinette's blessing. And when the day came, they all wished that they could call sick and avoid the issue.

"Relax Chloe," Marinette said in an attempt to comfort her, "It'll all be fine."

That didn't stop Chloe from sweating, "If they lynch me, I want an open casket. And you do the eulogy."

"The more you stress out, the worse it'll be," Marinette reminded her, "Now please calm down because you're making me nervous."

That was when Pollen appeared from Chloe's purse, "Is school suppose to be this stressful?"

Tikki was quick to join her Kwami friend, "Well last Friday wasn't the best day for them."

"We're here," Marinette said as she walked up to the front doors.

Both girls were hesitant to push the doors open but decided to get the matter over with. As soon as they entered, they noticed their classmates going about their usual day. But one by one they all noticed Chloe and Marinette enter together, and it didn't take long for all of them to stop what they were doing. The entire hall was dead silent as everyone waited for someone to say a word. One could almost hear Chloe softly mutter, "Jesus Christ this is tense."

The tension seemed endless especially when Kim walked over to the two, and said, "Please tell me she didn't do something stupid again."

Everyone seemed ready to go after Chloe until Marinette responded to Kim's statement, "Actually we're good now."

There was almost a collective noise of surprise as Kim said, "Really?"

"Yeah, she apologized, and we talked over the weekend," Marinette explained, "She promised to be nicer."

When the gazes shifted back to Chloé, all she did was nervously nod. Though she felt like she had to do it without making eye contact with anyone. However, if she was looking up, she'd notice that all of the gazes shifted slightly. This was out of realization of something that they knew about Chloe. She wasn't lying about being friends with Marinette now.

Chloe was many things but she certainly wasn't a good liar before getting Pollen. That part they had to practice a little so that Hawkmoth wouldn't find out their identities. It wasn't too hard since a lot of people remembered her as unpleasant at the time. Also she may have been a cruel brat before but this was a different side to Chloe that only showed itself when Adrien was angry. Especially when she looked like she was getting ready to be stoned in the courtyard.

Though, rather than charge at her with pitchforks and torches like she expected, they all went back to their usual routine. Along with the additional angry glares at Chloe's direction that came with it all. And once they all dispersed, Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. Marinette almost did the same but stopped herself before she was spotted by Chloe. On their way to class, Chloe voiced her current thought, "For a second, I thought they were going to mount my head on a stake on the school wall."

"Don't be so dramatic," Marinette said in an attempt to have Chloe relax, "I told you that it'll be okay."

Chloe simply nodded as they entered their classroom, and took their usual seats. But even then, Chloe had to deal with the other potential issue: Sabrina Raincomprix. What the others didn't know was that Chloe ran into Sabrina over the weekend. Chloe tried to use this as an opportunity to help clear things up between them. Needless to say, it didn't go so great.

While Chloe wanted to use the moment to apologize for mistreating Sabrina, the redhead used the moment to call her out on every horrible thing she was forced to do. However, she was willing to let her friend apologize for everything. And apologize she did, along with cry her eyes out until she ran out of tears. Sabrina wanted to forgive Chloe immediately, but instead told her to prove that she's really changed for the better. Now was the opportunity to prove it.

Thankfully the day went rather smoothly. Marinette vouching first Chloe had everyone easing up on the blond child. Though there was the occasional angry glare in her direction along with someone trying to 'subtly' take revenge on the bluenette's behalf. She managed to make it to lunch without too much damage. But as she was walking with Alya to Marinette's table, she ended up accidentally bumping into Nathanael.

This resulted in Chloe getting splashed with her cup of water. It also led to everyone glancing in her direction to see what she'd do. They all expected her to either instantly mouth off on Nathanael for the accident, or start crying from everything that's happened. Instead Chloe just sighed, and said, "Guess I really can't escape karma."

Alya began leading her back to the table, and noticed all eyes following them. Eventually Marinette just turned around, and said, "A little less attention would be appreciated right now guys."

At that statement, everyone went back to what they were doing while the miraculous team tended to Chloe. Plagg briefly came out from Adrien's bag, and said, "You look like a wet cat."

"Now's not the best time Plagg," Alya said trying not to draw attention to the Kwami.

"I was just trying to lighten the mood," Plagg said almost defensively, "Sorry."

"I think she means that you should remain hidden until after school," Chloe clarified, receiving a nod from Alya.

Before Plagg gave a response, he immediately flew back as he was about to speak. They didn't realize why until Chloe felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see that it was Nathanael who had just appeared behind her. He looked Chloe straight in the eyes, and said, "I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I didn't see you coming."

"It's okay Nathanael," Chloe replied with a light smile, "Though I'm a little surprised you're apologizing for it. I figured everyone would think it was a happy accident."

"Well some of the guys thought about teaching you a lesson like that," Nathanael replied honestly, "But Sabrina mentioned that you apologized rather profusely about everything that happened. So I thought I'd give you a chance if Marinette and the others are willing to do so."

"Really?" Chloé looked surprised, "Thanks. I just hope nothing got on your drawings."

"Nah it's all good," Nathanael said as he pulled out his sketch pad, "You can check if you want."

With permission, Chloe looked over every page. She started off looking for any water damage but eventually she stopped caring about that. Instead, she began admiring the quality of each drawing and every detail put into it. It almost rivalled Marinette's fashion designs which she saw over the weekend, due to the bluenette requesting she model some of her designs. However once Chloe got to one of the last pages, she paused and looked at the artist, asking, "Is that suppose to be me?"

Nathanael looked at the drawing and felt his face almost go as red as his hair, "Uh…well…yeah. I thought it would help lighten your mood if you truly did make amends with Marinette."

The sketch caught them all by surprise. Nathanael started off as one of Chloe's biggest haters and now he made a sketch that actually appeals to her. However, Marinette caught onto the real reason why Nathanael made that sketch. Drawing her own designs, she had experience with finding details in artwork like what was being shown to the group. So she could tell that the sketch was made days if not weeks before Chloe had a change of heart.

"It's beautiful," Chloe stated with a wide grin, "I love it."

"Thank you," Nathanael replied still blushing, "I'd be happy to show you more. Maybe over a meal sometime?"

That was when Chloe froze in place with a beet red face, "Oh…um…Uh…"

"That sounds lovely," Alya replied for Chloe.

"Great. I'll text you the details," Nathanael said before retrieving his sketchbook, and returning to his table.

When he was away from the group, Trixx appeared and broke the silence by saying, "What Just happened?"

"I think tomato head just asked our queen on a date," Wayzz chimed in with an answer.

"Good for you girl," Alya said supportively before noticing the growing concern on Chloe's face.

"This isn't a trap or anything right?" Chloé asked.

Suddenly Pollen appeared with the other three kwamis, "Don't worry my queen. I'm sure he means no harm."

"Yeah but he asked me on a date," Chloe readdressed, "Me, the person who had constantly bullied his crush, the girl currently sitting across from me."

"Nathanael's not the vengeful type," Marinette pointed out, "But it shows that you hold a special place in his heart if he makes a drawing of you like that."

"Guess things are working out for you after all," Nino said before being swatted on the back of his head by Plagg.

"If you jinx us because of that Nino," Plagg warned, though didn't finish.

Instead he allowed the others to begin laughing at the act. Maybe things will get better from here on out.


	11. One More Song

Chapter 11

Night time at Paris has many fun things for people. Mostly the adults as they're the main people awake in the darker hours. And usually it's for purposes of entertainment that wouldn't specifically not be for the younger folks. But there are some things for the teens, and the preteens that were out on dates at night or just wandering around. One place in particular was a little music place.

"This was the karaoke place that Alya mentioned?" Marinette asked out loud as she and Adrien arrived.

After the week had gone by with nothing major happening, the team decided to stop by the place known as Beats and Treats. It was apparently a little restaurant where people could go to perform and whatnot as well as get a bite to eat. The restaurant was only a couple months old but it became fairly popular in that time. However, once it became known to the whole group that Marinette and Adrien could sing, the others began badgering the couple into spending a night at this place. This is what led to the group hangout at this time.

"Not exactly what I expected," Adrien said as they walked up to the front door, "But let's give this a shot."

Adrien opened the front door, and the two immediately took notice of the quantity of patrons in the place. So far, no one was at the karaoke stage but they were certainly everywhere else. For a second, they felt like they were at a bar which already wouldn't do wonders for Adrien if his father found out. That changed when they saw three hands wave the pair over. One of the hands even called out, "Hey guys, over here."

The couple made their way over to the table to find Chloe, Nino, and Alya sitting around the table. For some reason, Alya was sitting in between her boyfriend and former enemy. It wasn't clear why at first until Marinette put it together that it gave her unobstructed view if she did anything romantic with Adrien. Either way, they took their seats with Marinette sitting next to Chloe, and Adrien sitting next to Nino. A second later, they noticed Trixx, Wayzz, And Pollen on the table who were immediately joined by Plagg, And Tikki.

"What took you guys so long getting here?" Chloe asked opening up a good topic for her.

Until Nino gave a following statement, "Feel free to leave out any romantic details."

Adrien simply scowled at his friend, "If you must know, I had to tell my father what was happening, and had to pick up Marinette afterward."

"Aw," the girls looked at the couple with expectations for a romantic kiss.

"So why are we hanging out here?" Marinette asked, moving things along.

"Well I've been wanting to hear you sing so here's your chance," Alya answered as she pointed towards the stage.

"Absolutely not," Marinette said with a deadpan tone.

"But what if I want to hear you sing?" Chloe chimed in, "The only time I heard you sing was when you were Scheherazade and even then it was brief."

Suddenly all five kwamis knelt in front of her with pleading eyes, and said, "Pleeeeease?"

Marinette knew that they had worked together on this for sure. Whether Adrien had a hand in any of it though was beyond her. But she couldn't turn down the kwamis when they gave the same baby doll eyes that Manon would give. So she decided to come to an agreement and get her vengeance at another time. She then gave her answer, "Fine but only on one condition."

"What condition?" Nino asked, looking worried.

For all the time they knew her, Marinette wasn't one to always concede without getting something in return. This was something Adrien came to find out throughout the time they were together. And usually Marinette's conditions weren't easy to agree with so they would sometimes decide to nix the plan altogether. But this time, like the kwamis with her treats, the condition might be worth it. And this condition was more simple, "You all have to get up on that stage individually at least once."

Adrien gave a light look of smugness while the remaining three faces had paled. None of them had any experience on how to deal with something like this. Sure they all had been known to the public eye before, Alya with her Ladyblog, Nino with his DJ gigs, and Chloe being the mayor's daughter. But none of them had to sing in front of a group before. However, this was a moment that they couldn't pass up so the three nodded, "Deal."

Marinette noticed the smug look on Adrien, and said, "That includes you too tomcat."

"I already sang in front of my two idols," Adrien said before giving her a peck on the cheek, "I can handle a crowd like this."

"Dibs on recording," Tikki said, trying to stay subtle so to not draw attention to their table.

Once the matter was settled, Marinette made her way to the sign up for performances. There sat a stage manager who she began to have a discussion with. The others couldn't hear what she was saying except for Plagg, and Trixx. When she looked back over at her table, she gave a thumbs up indicating that they were good to use the stage. What they didn't know was that she had set up different performances at an unknown length of time since the stage was free for anyone to participate. And when she was ready, the announcer introduced her and got ready to play her song so she could sing.

The song began playing, she began singing, and the whole room turned to watch. Every conversation had silenced so that they could hear the young bluenette sing. Even the employees, and stage manager were in awe of her performance. A few of the patrons were dancing with the romantic music with their partners, something Adrien wished he was doing with his girlfriend who was currently singing. Alya had to hand Tikki the phone to record so she could dance with her boyfriend, which is exactly what happened.

When it was over, the whole room filled with cheers and applause from everyone, minus Tikki who was still holding the phone. A few of them had cheered for an encore but instead Marinette glanced at Adrien, signaling for him to take the mic. This was after a couple of the patrons had thrown flowers up on the stage in praise of her performance. While Adrien was making his way up to the stage, he overheard some light chatter from a few of the male patrons who were commenting on how cute she was, though it wasn't done in a way that he liked all too much. As he was handed the mic, he heard Marinette whisper, "Top that pretty boy."

Adrien gave his song choice to the stage manager, and began singing a more upbeat romantic song. He got the same attention almost to the same degree. And boy did the crowd love to hear singing from the boy. During all of this, Marinette noticed a couple of guys stop by the table, and give her their numbers, one of which was on a business card for a record company. When he finished, there was almost an equally loud applause from everyone except for those at the table with the kwamis, because they knew that one of them was next.

During the applause, Marinette decided who would go next, "You're up Foxy."

Alya began looking nervous, "Can we skip me because we're such good friends?"

"What do you guys think?" Marinette said looking to the others at the table.

"I think I want to know what this fox says," Chloe replied with a grin.

"Sorry babe," Nino shrugged with a smile of their own.

"Consider is karma for trying to push me into Adrien's arms," Marinette added.

"That was meant to be helpful," Alya was almost begging.

"The sooner you get up there, the sooner it can be done," Marinette simply pointed at the stage this time.

Alya nervously made her way up to the stage and grabbed the mic from Adrien. It was clear that she noticed his Cheshire grin proudly adorned on his face. The stage manager walked over to her and whispered some words of encouragement to her to try and boost her confidence, something none of the teens at the table had even remotely thought would be something that would happen to Alya. Eventually she took a deep breath and gave her song choice to the stage manager. When he let her know that he was ready, she nodded and began to sing.

As she sang, she noticed her friends all looking shocked at what they were witnessing. Her singing, while probably not on the same level as Marinette's, was absolutely breathtaking. They couldn't believe that she could sing as well as she was currently, but certainly didn't mind the surprise. Alya's song wasn't romantic but it certainly was energetic, and upbeat. But like with all good things, her song eventually came to an end, and it was time for the next victim.

"Know any good songs shellboy?" Marinette asked as she glanced to Nino.

Nino looked less nervous since he put himself in the mindset as if it was one of his gigs. And he already had a song choice in mind before walking up to the stage manager. But it was still clear that Nino was nervous since he was use to performing with a sound board in front of him. Eventually he did grab the mic from Alya, and gave his song choice to the man in charge. And the whole room had a boost in their mood when he began his song.

Nino's song choice was a classic from decades prior and was more bouncy than the last. It almost got all of the patrons to dance along as if they were at a Jagged Stone concert. However, the patrons did make recording a little more difficult for Tikki so when the moment was best, she and the rest of the kwamis flew up towards the hanging lights to record. The song ended with some more enthusiastic cheering which also came from the same table. Until Marinette spoke once more, "And now the queen must take the stage."

Chloe felt her legs almost become linguini after that statement. She did appreciate the words of encouragement from Marinette who gave the blond a chance to say no. She almost took it out of fear that her performance wouldn't be able to measure up. But she decided to walk up anyway with her friends cheering her on. She gave her song choice to the stage manager, and readied herself to perform.

Chloe began her song and noticed how the audience was reacting to her singing. When she saw the pleased looks, she developed a little more confidence in her performance. She even began to dance a little herself with the music. When she finished, she heard a few voices calling for an encore as she began joyfully giggling. Eventually she noticed Marinette dragging her, and her friends up for one more song.

This time the song was a five voice song **(AN: Think like a song from The Wanted, Steps, or One Direction. Five members = Five voices)** and it happened to be one that they all knew. Each agreed to take a part in the song and all began to sing in perfect synchronization with each other. When it was over, there was an even larger round of applause and the teens went back to their table. All of them were obviously proud of their performances, and began praising each other. During the applause, the kwamis returned to the table with Tikki returning the phone, saying, "Got it all on here for the memories."

"Maybe you should start a band together," Plagg suggested as a joke, "Call yourselves the-"

The kwami was interrupted by a loud noise from outside. All five teens grabbed their kwamis, and ran outside to see what had just happened. Looking down the street, they saw that it was another akuma who was given yet another absurd name. The teens began making their way towards a small empty alleyway which they knew had no one else around. Once they knew they were alone, Alya spoke first, "Can't we just have more than a week without Hawkmoth sending out an akuma?"

"Unfortunately villains don't take vacations," Adrien pointed out, "And there's no rest for the weary. Being us in this case."

"Let's get this done while we can," Marinette said as they all transformed to fight the akuma.


	12. Opportunities

Chapter 12

The five heroes got to a good vantage point to look for the akuma since they had to hide from it to transform, and ended up briefly losing where it went. And needless to say, when they got a better view of the akuma, they had to shake their heads. There were times where Hawkmoth's villains were actually more creative like Rogercop, Puppeteer, and even Scheherazade, loathed as they were to admit it. But there were also the ones that were an embarrassment to even hear about like Mr. Pigeon, Bubbler, and a few of the others as well. This one certainly topped all of the absurd ones as Queen Bee pointed out, "Was that a giant snowflake we just saw passing by?"

"She seems rather frosty," Chat Noir said, not even trying to contain his amusement, "Maybe she needs to chill."

They all groaned just before Rena Rouge provided her own comment, "Can we please get this done so we can forget he just said that?"

"Gladly," Ladybug answered, "Let's stop this akuma before she ices Paris."

"Ooh good one milady," Chat pointed out, "Wait. When we catch up to her, should we say freeze?"

"Permission To silence him with duct tape boss?" Carapace requested.

"While his puns are annoying, Time is a factor here," Ladybug answered, "Come on."

They all managed to catch up to the akuma with little issue in their own little way. They decided splitting up and taking her on from different angles would be best for dealing with the threat. Chat Noir, and Carapace took the ground to try and draw her attention. Ladybug and Rena Rouge stuck with the rooftops to try and find where the akuma item is on the villain. Queen Bee chose to attack from the sky since she was the only one who could fly.

When they were all in position, the boys began their distraction by releasing the seemingly endless banter from Chat Noir, "You Know, it doesn't help giving people the cold shoulder."

The villain then turned to face Chat Noir, "You dare mock Snow Angel? You lowly peon."

"Snow Angel?" Carapace commented, "Wait, were you trying to cosplay as a winter witch for something?"

That last remark managed to rile up Snow Angel enough to send a blast of ice at the turtle hero. This blast was blocked by his shield, allowing Chat to attack with his baton. Unfortunately the baton landed against her ice staff which he had to parry attacks from. And thus the two boys were engaged in a battle with the frosty witch. Meanwhile the ladies were looking for where the akuma could potentially be. Unfortunately, they had little luck figuring out where it could be, at least until Bee noticed giant mounds of ice coming from a building a couple streets away.

Bee flew down next to Ladybug, and Rena Rouge to provide her observation, "It looks like she came from down that way. There's an entire building that's almost frozen."

Both girls looked to where Bee was pointing, but Rena was first to realize the truth, "That's the expo center. She must've been a cosplayer who was attending."

Ladybug's attention however had shifted back to the fight, "We need to get this done fast before we lose two members."

"Would losing Chat Noir really be a huge loss?" Rena asked as a light joke.

"Yeah I think we can do without his puns for sure," Bee Agreed.

"I can hear you both you know," Chat's voice came through Ladybug's yo-yo which was set on the communicator function.

Ladybug brought her focus back to the fight, and asked, "Any luck on where the akuma could be?"

Meanwhile, the fight was getting more difficult as Snow Angel froze Chat's feet to the street. She then began firing an ice beam at the hero until Carapace used Shell-ter to stop the attack. That was when Chat spotted the source of where the akuma was. He immediately relayed the message to Ladybug, "The akuma is in the staff."

"Got it," Ladybug said before disconnecting, "Time to go to work."

As soon as all three ladies reached street level to come to the boys's rescue, Ladybug called on her lucky charm. When the flash disappeared, she ended up holding a medal with a red neckband containing black spots. Both girls looked at the item with obvious confusion on their faces. Bee was the first to put the confusion into words, "How the hell do you find ways to use items like that?"

"That's What I said," Rena said in Ladybug's defense, "But there's a special ability she has which guides her."

Just as Rena finished her statement, Ladybug already had the plan formulated in her head, "Rena, I'll need you to use your mirage ability when I Signal you. And Bee, get your stinger ready."

"Got it," both women said in response.

Before they both left to take positions, Ladybug gave Rena the illusion she wanted to be casted. She then looked over to Chat who finally got himself free. When they made eye contact, it was clear what she wanted him to do. Eventually the shield protecting the boys had failed and the blow knocked them back a bit. Just as Snow Angel was about to deal another attack, Ladybug signalled Rena to use mirage.

The illusion that appeared was a large crowd of spectators who one would find at a cosplay convention. Snow Angel only turned to look at them when she heard them applauding, and cheering her name. That was when Ladybug appeared with the medal in her hand, saying, "Congratulations Snow Angel for winning the award of best costume. And for backing it up with your impressive performance there."

Snow Angel immediately forgot about the fight as she happily took the medal and placed it around her neck. There were even tears forming in her eyes as she said, "Thank you so much. I worked so hard on it."

"Of course you did," Ladybug replied, "However before we get to the rest of the commemoration, there's a few people who would like to say some things. Let's bring them out now."

At that statement, Bee flew up to Snow Angel and used her Venom ability to paralyze Snow Angel. Unable to move, she ended up dropping her staff and falling to the ground stunned. Ladybug used this time to kick the staff towards the boys. Thankfully it landed in Chat Noir's hand which already had the cataclysm ability activated, and thus destroyed the staff, causing the little butterfly to fly out.

Ladybug then proceeded to purify the akuma, and fix all of the damage done. When everything went back to normal, all five heroes gathered, and brought their fists together in the center of their circle, saying, "Pound it."

A short while later, the team reconvened at Beats and Treats. When they wandered back inside, they were all stopped by the manager. That was when they realized something that they forgot about before they left. They didn't pay for their food and drinks before taking off to save the city from the ice witch. Adrien immediately jumped to sooth any issues, "Sorry about leaving like that sir. I'll pay for our meals."

"Actually I was going to make a suggestion," the manager said, "How would you like to eat here for free as long as you sing like you did tonight?"

"Really?" all five teens asked with mass surprise in their tones.

"Absolutely," the manager replied, "Every customer we've had was complimenting your performance, and asking if you were coming back. Not sure if I can hire you, but I'm willing to give this a shot if you are. What do you say?"

All five teens looked to each other before smiling as Marinette answered for them, "You got a deal."

Meanwhile,

"So there's more heroes now," Gabriel said in thought, "Things have just gotten interesting."

"Indeed master," Nooroo replied, "Perhaps it's becoming more dangerous to continue this quest."

Gabriel glared at his kwami angrily, "We finish when I have all of the miraculouses."

"But with five rivals instead of two, that could be a problem," Nooroo pointed out, attempting to dissuade his chosen from his mission.

Gabriel simply gave a dark chuckle instead, "On the contrary. It actually makes my job easier. Now I have better opportunity to acquire three of the miraculouses previously dormant. And soon, I'll have them all."


	13. The Other First Date

Chapter 13

Ever since Chloe turned a new leaf, there were many concerns that raced through her mind. Much of which were handled well the first week. It took a bit but she managed to convince the whole school that she was trying to be a better person, though she did have a few slip ups which she was able to recover from. But all of that paled to the situation that came tonight. For tonight was her alone time with Nathanael Kurtzburg.

"I still can't believe that this is happening," Chloe said as she sat in her bedroom with Marinette, and Alya.

"Well he has been waiting long enough to get this date with you," Marinette said as she brushed the blond girl's hair.

"Are we even sure that this is a date?" Chloe asked as she stared at herself in the mirror, "What if it's just a get together as friends? Or what if his plan was to make me think he sees I'm different but actually gets revenge for-"

Before she could finish, Chloe felt a small hand close her mouth, and looked to find Tikki saying, "Chloe, you're overthinking things. Just relax, and try to think positively."

Chloe gave a slow nod and took deep breaths as she tried to calm down, "Thanks Tikki. I appreciate the support."

"Well I did have to support this one for a while," Tikki said as she pointed to her chosen, causing the others to laugh.

"Oh come on. Give me some credit," Marinette said frustratedly. Their train of thought was interrupted when Chloe grunted in pain. When Marinette looked down, she realized that not only had she tugged hard on a knot in her friend's hair, but her left hand currently had blond locks tightly held, and she was actually pulling. Marinette instantly released the hair, and said, "Sorry."

"This is why I wanted Alya to help me with the makeover," Chloe said jokingly.

"Why do you think you need a makeover anyway?" Pollen asked from the vanity, "I think you look beautiful enough my queen."

This time Alya decided to answer, "It never hurts to look extra hot. So when he sees you, his face should be as red as his hair."

When Marinette finished brushing Chloe's hair, Alya got to the makeup. This was the task that Chloe insisted be up to Alya to complete. It wasn't so much that she didn't trust Marinette, despite the bluenette's accident prone qualities, but it was more that Alya was generally better at the makeup aspect. So much so that Marinette didn't even argue or put up a fight when Alya was requested. That and it gave her more time to focus on the outfit for her.

"So what were your first dates like?" Chloe asked to ease the tension she was still feeling.

Alya decided to answer first as she started with applying Chloe's mascara, "Well Nino, and I didn't even consider dating each other until after the whole zoo situation."

As Alya finished, Chloe gave a quick confused look, "What whole zoo situation?"

"Pretty much Nino was trying to ask me out with help from Adrien while I was expecting Adrien to ask me out while Alya was coaching me along," Marinette explained.

This only served to baffle Chloe even further, "You're kidding."

Alya continued telling the story, "That's not even the stranger part. Marinette deviated from the plan and tried to set me up with Nino who flubbed his confession by saying that he was interested in me. Eventually we ended up in a cage from the Animan incident, and we got to talking. One thing led to another, and we decided to give it a shot."

Chloe then closed her eyes as Alya began working on her eyeliner, "So how did that go?"

"Better than we thought. Truth be told, we didn't know what to expect. But he was really sweet, and I ended up really liking him. So we talked about how it went for each of us, and we've been dating ever since," By the end of the story, Alya had finished with the eyeliner, and moved on to the next step.

Chloe decided to keep the topic going, "So what about you Marinette? Your first date?"

Marinette smiled but she still felt awkward. She was happy to admit that she was dating Adrien, but it felt weird talking about it with her former rival. But she knew why Chloe was asking. It was her own little way of moving forward. So Marinette decided to indulge the blond girl's curiosity.

"We went to a Jagged Stone concert and it went well. Then the akuma attacked so we had to deal with it."

Alya paused her work for a moment to ask her own question, "This was before you both found out each other's identities, right?"

Marinette nodded, "Anyway after the akuma was dealt with, the audience had pretty much left. Adrien salvaged the date by playing the piano and singing to me. Then Jagged came back with the band and we all performed together. I'm still convinced that he recorded us singing and saved it on an album. And after he took me home, we kissed."

"Aw," both friends said in unison, only partially teasing her.

As Alya got back to finishing the makeup, Chloe posed another question, "So did he take you upstairs bridal style to your room yet?"

Alya laughed as she provided her own quip, "Actually I think he might have proposed to her. Our little girl is growing up."

Marinette gave a deadpan glare at both of them, "I also provide snacks for your kwamis. Unless you want me to stop doing that."

That was when both Trixx And Pollen flew up to Marinette with Trixx speaking first, "Wait. Please don't take away the snacks."

"We won't make fun of your relationship with Adrien. Promise," Pollen pleaded.

Marinette eased the concerns of the kwamis as she put together an outfit for Chloe. The outfit she chose was a fancy yellow top with a black jacket over it, paired with a black and yellow plaid skirt which reached Chloe's knees, and a pair of short yellow high heels. When Chloe noticed the clothes, she only had one thing to say, "Great style choice, but why the black and yellow?"

"Color confidence," Marinette answered with no follow up.

When she noticed that neither teen understood what she meant, she explained further, "Whenever I wear red, I get the confidence that usually comes with Ladybug, and I feel like I can do more things that I normally wouldn't feel great about doing as regular old me. So I thought that matching the Queen Bee colors with you as Chloe would help."

"Ohhhh, now I get it," Chloe replied with Alya giving an understanding nod behind her, "Okay, I'll give it a shot."

By the time they finished up, Nathanael was waiting in the lobby. When he had arrived, he noticed Adrien and Nino talking in the lobby as well. However, seeing Adrien made him want to turn around and wait outside. It was clear that Adrien was thinking the same thing. And both boys knew perfectly well why that was the case.

After Adrien and Marinette came out as a couple, the boys had a little incident. Word got out that Nathanael was a little upset about the fact that they were dating which Adrien was worried about. Eventually Nathanael heard that his little secret dislike got out much to his chagrin. Thus, both boys had been avoiding each other like the plague. Adrien to avoid any awkward encounters, and Nathanael to avoid getting punched in the face for his response to the announcement.

Unfortunately, Nino didn't know what the issue was and thus as soon as he saw the young artist, he said, "Hey Nathanael, good to see you."

Both boys froze as they tried to think of ways to make the situation less awkward. Unfortunately it only got worse since it was just silence in the lobby as Nino looked back and forth at both boys. Their gazes were fixed on each other with no sign of breaking. And for a second, Nino thought one of them was potentially going to hit the other. But instead nothing happened.

Finally Adrien broke the silence by saying, "Nathanael."

Nathanael responded in kind, "Adrien."

Eventually Nino spoke again, "Can you guys please fix this? It's becoming way too tense, and awkward."

This caused Adrien to sigh as he spoke first again, "Nathanael, I'm sorry if the fact that I was dating Marinette had upset you. If you're pissed at me, I totally understand. Just wanted to get that off my chest."

Nathanael gave a confused response this time, "Pissed at you? I thought you were angry with me. I saw what happened after what Chloe did, and I figured that would be my face. And honestly, after I had some time to think, I realized that you and Marinette were perfect for each other. But the rest of the worry was that I thought you wouldn't be happy with me asking Chloe out. So I'm sorry for this whole….debacle."

Adrien smiled as he felt the tension dissipate, "No worries buddy. Though I'm a little surprised you asked out Chloe."

"You're surprised?" Nino jumped in again, "I got whiplash from that."

Nathanael then began his explanation, "Well I was nearby when she apologized to Sabrina. She seemed so genuine that I thought I'd give her a chance. In all honesty, she is pretty, but her personality sucked."

"Yeah it wasn't fun calling her my friend back then," Adrien admitted, "We were mostly friends because she was the only other person my age that I knew growing up."

The boys continued talking and sharing a few laughs until the girls came down to meet them. Once Nathanael saw Chloe, the other boys could've sworn they heard his jaw drop. However their faces showed equal shock at Chloe's little makeover. Meanwhile Marinette and Alya were clearly proud of their work. Chloe decided to break the slowly building silence as she nervously said, "Ready to get going."

"Right," Nathanael said as he walked over to her and extended his elbow for her to link her arm around his.

Once she did so, the two began walking out the door, leaving the other four in the lobby. After they were out of view, Wayzz popped out of Nino's pocket and asked, "So should we see how this plays out?"

Tikki flew out next, "We're not going to spy on Chloe's date."

Trixx was quick to follow his kwami friends, "You have to be the least bit curious."

Finally Plagg joined them as well, "Besides, she can consider this karma for all of her akuma attacks."

"Guys come on," Marinette spoke up, "We should at least give them a little break, right?"

She looked around at her friends and it was clear that only she and Tikki objected to the suggestion. Alya had her phone in hand ready to record obviously. Nino was getting giddy about spying on the date that he had too big of a grin on his face. Adrien did have the curious cat expression that Marinette only saw on Chat Noir. And even Marinette wanted to see what it would be like for the first date.

So the bluenette let out an annoyed sigh, "Fine. But the minute it goes too far, we call it off. Deal?"

"Deal," all seven voices replied.

"Alright then," Marinette said with a smile, "Team Miraculous has its next assignment."


	14. The Game is Afoot

Chapter 14

The date went well so far in the eyes of both teens. However, it didn't exactly start off so smooth after the two left the hotel for Chloe. She was still nervous that he still had bad feelings towards her because of how horrible she was before she got Pollen. Thankfully she still had Pollen reassuring her throughout the trip to the date. And eventually they made it to a fancy restaurant that Chloe hadn't been to before. Prompting her to ask, "Is this a new place?"

"Not really," Nathanael answered honestly, "It's been around for a while."

The two made their way inside, and were quickly brought to their table. Meanwhile, Rena Rouge was currently using binoculars to view the date from the rooftops. Normally that would be difficult for an indoor dining establishment, but it's much easier since this building had a glass ceiling. Not to mention, the couple was sat at a perfect angle for them to view everything. At least that'd be the case if they all had binoculars instead of just Rena.

The roof holding Team Miraculous was a slanted roof with two windows protruding from it. And both had two of the four heroes standing on the tops of each one, Ladybug and Chat on the left, and Carapace and Rena on the right. Carapace looked to his girlfriend and said, "What do you see?"

"They just sat down, and they're ordering," Rena answered, still watching through the binoculars, "Nothing's happening yet."

"Somehow, I figured you'd be doing something like this for our first date," Ladybug said looking at her teammates on the other window.

"We certainly wouldn't be doing it from the rooftops," Carapace defensively replied, "And it also wouldn't be done in our hero forms."

"Well it's also good you didn't spy on us then," Chat pointed out, "Otherwise, you would have learned of our hero forms."

As the team continued conversing amongst each other, Chloe and Nathanael were browsing through the menu to find some good dishes. The waiter arrived allowing them to place their orders for what they wanted. After that was done, the waiter left the table, and the two began their wait. However, Nathanael noticed Chloe acting nervous, and asked, "You okay Chloe?"

"Yeah it's just bad memories," Chloe answered, "I never would've thought that you would take me to a place like this."

"I thought it would be good to take you to a nice place," Nathanael pointed out, "To give you a chance the proper way."

Chloe slowly nodded as her expression changed to more worried, "I thought you hated me."

Nathanael began explaining once more, "I don't hate you. I never did actually. I was unhappy, yes, but not hateful. Truth is, Sabrina came to me to apologize for what she did, in fact she apologized to everyone and said that she was done with you. That day that you apologized to her, I was actually nearby. And I saw you cry at her feet. It made me feel bad for you."

"I wouldn't blame her if she posted that online as a video," Chloe said.

"I'm not the kind of person to watch people suffer Chloe," Nathanael assured her, "That was only me as the Evillustrator."

That was when Chloe started to smile. Which threw off Nathanael since they were having a serious conversation. It only got stranger when he heard her begin to laugh so he asked why this was happening. She then gave her answer, "Just a discussion with the others on how stupid some of the villains were. Like there was Mr. Pigeon. How terrifying does that sound? 'Oh no. Watch out for Mr. Pigeon.'"

Nathanael caught on to what she was saying and began laughing with her at the absurdity, "What about when Nino was the Bubbler? What kind of a villain is that?"

The two began mocking more of the absurd villains and they laughed harder with each one. The laughter eventually settled down and their meals arrived. Partway through the meal, she felt Pollen nudging her from her purse. She then looked to Nathanael, and said, "Sorry. One second. I need to do something. I promise I'll be back."

"Sure," Nathanael said with a smile as Chloe got up, and walked to the restroom.

When Chloe was sure that she was alone, she allowed Pollen out of her purse, and said, "Please tell me there isn't an akuma attack right now."

"Not exactly," Pollen answered, "Sorry to interrupt your date my queen, but I sensed something else."

Meanwhile on the rooftop, Rena finished providing a detailed summary of what was happening ending with her saying, "I can't see Chloe anymore."

"Well it sounded like she was having a good time," Chat pointed out, "She wouldn't ditch Nathanael on a date. At least not now."

"Maybe the nervousness was getting to her again," Carapace guessed.

"Hey LB, would you be able to use a lucky charm in this situation?" Rena asked.

"Only if you guys can take me back home," Ladybug answered.

"Dibs!" Chat exclaimed as he raised his hand, causing the others to laugh.

"Fine. Lucky-" Ladybug started to say until she heard ringing from her yo-yo. This confused the entire group immediately. Sure, they were aware that their weapons doubled as communication devices for the most part. But they didn't know who that could be since everyone who was currently in hero mode was on the rooftop. Ladybug opened the yo-yo like a cell phone, and said, "Hello?"

The voice that came through was Chloe's, "Marinette, why the hell are you guys spying on my date?"

"Oh hey girl. We're just on patrol right now," Ladybug answered before Turning to the others as she said away from the yo-yo phone, "It's Chloe."

"Damn. Did she see us?" Rena quietly asked as the four crouched behind the rooftop.

"Really? On patrol?" Chloe asked with obvious disbelief, "Then why did Pollen sense your presence nearby since the date started?"

"We Just happened to stop by where your date was, and we saw you," Ladybug answered, trying to hide the fact that it was a lie.

"And the reason you didn't stick to the patrol agreement was?" Chloe asked again, reminding her of the deal they all made.

After the first couple days of Chloe, Nino, and Alya joining the team, they all made an agreement with each other. If only a few members of the team were patrolling while the rest were doing other things, the patrollers would let the rest know this is happening. Just in case they needed to cover for each other if the moment called for it. This was put into place after Marinette wasn't available to watch Manon a couple times.

Thus why Ladybug's next excuse was less believable to Chloe, "We forgot."

"Can't I have a pleasant moment to myself without you guys watching?" Chloe asked over the phone.

"It's not like we're going to intrude," Ladybug replied in defense.

"She can think of it like us going to watch a play," Rena said as she got ready to keep watch again.

"I heard that," Chloe's voice came through the yo-phone.

"We promise that we won't interfere," Chat assured her, "And if you want, we can give you advice on what to do for your date."

Unfortunately, instead of hearing Chloe reply, they heard the line disconnect. After briefly looking at each other, they went back to viewing the date from the window ceiling. At least Rena went back to that since she had the binoculars. However, she noticed Chloe look their direction to try and find them, though her continuous gaze in their direction indicated that she succeeded in spotting them. "Oops," Rena said as she kept watching, "I think she found us."

However, instead of angry getting on the phone, Chloe was actually smiling as she walked over to Nathanael. Because unbeknownst to them, Chloe decided to have a little fun with the team to see how much they can follow. Yes she was irritated at first but her annoyance eased back when she realized that they meant the spying because they cared in a friendly way. And in her mind, she wanted to see just how much they really cared. Once she made it to Nathanael, she said, "Our friends are spying on us from somewhere. Want to have some fun with them?"

Nathanael caught the clue that Chloe was trying to be subtle, and said, "Let's do it."

The two had already finished their meal, and left a little more hurriedly than one normally would. While they finished, Chat and Ladybug got down to ground level and detransformed back to Adrien And Marinette so that they could get a better view. Carapace and Rena remained on the rooftops to keep an eye from the sky. As soon as they saw Chloe and Nathanael leave, they began to start their little stealth mission. But they didn't realize that the couple had also started their own mission, especially after Chloe saw where Adrien And Marinette were.

As soon as the blond girl saw them, she called out, "Oh my goodness is that Adrien Agreste with his new girlfriend?"

And with that, a crowd of people flocked to take a picture of the model and the designer. After Adrien first took Marinette out, he changed his relationship status online to in a relationship. However, to keep Marinette from getting swamped with photographers and jealous fans, he kept the name of the person he was dating as anonymous. And since then, paparazzi have been almost hounding the boy to see if they can figure out who his girlfriend was. So it wasn't a huge surprise that people would try to trample on top of each other to see who this new girlfriend would be.

While the fashion couple, as Chloe would call them as civilians, was running to avoid the crowd, Chloe and Nathanael were running in the opposite direction. While Nathanael didn't know why after they were out of view from their classmates, he began to have fun since Chloe was laughing cheerfully the whole time. Enough to the point that he was laughing along with her. Though the reason she was running was because there was still Carapace/Nino and Rena Rouge/Alya to give the slip. Not to hard to do since they still had difficulty navigating the rooftops and were still a little slow, earning Nino many turtle puns from Adrien.

Eventually Nathanael led Chloe to a flower garden which conveniently had no rooftops nearby. And the two began walking through so they could catch their breath. As they walked through, they couldn't help but admire the flowers. While Chloe was admiring a patch with yellow flowers, she noticed a flash from Nathanael's phone indicating that he took a picture. She looked his way as he explained, "So I have a good reference for what to draw next."

Chloe couldn't help but blush as the two continued through the flower garden. As they continued onward, the two slowly closed the space between them and began helping each other's hand. Halfway through the garden, they changed to putting an arm around the other. Maybe it was the bee part of Chloe's mind feeling content around flowers, but it didn't matter since she was happy to remain with the artist. Though the moment was interrupted when she felt the phone in his jacket pocket buzz.

They disconnected from each other so Nathanael could check the notification and saw that it was his parents asking him to come home now. He looked to Chloe with sadness, and said, "Sorry. Guess the date has to end now."

"I understand," Chloe nodded, "My dad would probably want me home soon as well."

"Well maybe we can do this again if you want," Nathanael offered a bit shyly.

Chloe's warm smile helped build his confidence, "I'd love that."

Just as they were about to leave, they noticed a flower stand where one could purchase flowers. Nathanael quickly walked up to the stand before they left, and purchased one of the yellow flowers Chloe was admiring. When that was done, he walked up to the girl, and placed the flower in her hair, next to the comb, and said, "It suits you beautifully."

The two eventually made their way back to the hotel, and said their goodbyes, with Nathanael kissing Chloe's hand before leaving. And with that, the girl got up to her room and cheered happily. "That was the most magical night of my life," she voiced her thoughts.

Pollen quickly flew out of the purse she was hiding in, and said, "I'm glad you had a wonderful date my queen."

"Me too Pollen," she said as she laid down on her bed staring at the ceiling, "Me too."

She eventually heard her phone buzz and went to check on it. Turns out she received a text in the group chat.

[From Whiskers: Thank you for revealing my relationship to my fans.]

She quickly texted back.

[From Queenie: You were the ones spying on my date pussycat.]

The chat continued.

[From Spots: It was a good move. I'll say that.]

[From Whiskers: Yeah Fine.]

[From Queenie: What? You guys want to double date?]

[From Vixen Power: Wait a minute. I got first dibs on the double date with Marinette.]

[From Shellshock: No. No double dates. Period.]

[From Queenie: Well to be fair, it would still be pretty awkward with Nathanael and Adrien.]

[From Whiskers: Yeah But the couples always end up competing to show who the better couple is.]

[From Shellshock: Which is why Adrien And I swore never to double date ever.]

[From Queenie: Fine you wimps. No double dates.]

[From Spots: Glad to hear that you might be going on another with him.]

[From Queenie: I actually can't wait for it.]

[From Vixen Power: I don't know. Marinette said that her first date ended with a kiss on the lips. If yours ended with a kiss on the hand, it could mean something else.]

Chloe was about to text back something until she looked closer at Alya's message. Then something clicked in her mind.

[From Queenie: How the hell do you know that he kissed my hand?]

[From Vixen Power: Uh…magic?]

Chloe immediately walked to her window and opened it to see if she could spot her friend. Since she couldn't, she simply closed the window and texted a reply.

[From Queenie: Stop spying on my dates!]


	15. New openings

Chapter 15 

This was a day that filled Marinette with happiness, and horror for years. After all, this could go many ways based on the events that had happened prior. She had hope that things would work in her favor somewhere in the back of her mind. However, the fear was stronger even more so than her first date with Adrien. Because today, she was finally meeting face to face with Gabriel Agreste for the first time, and hopefully not the last.

It wasn't exactly planned otherwise she would've properly prepared for the moment. Actually she just stopped by to catch up on studying with Adrien this time. She made it to the front door and expected to be greeted by Adrien, and instead was greeted by Nathalie. And rather than get turned away, Nathalie allowed her to enter the house and led her to Gabriel's study. If not for Tikki's continuous reassurance when Nathalie wasn't looking, she probably would've fainted halfway over.

Now they were at the front door, and Marinette clung to the bag over her shoulders until her knuckles were white. Many questions ran through the bluenette's mind as Nathalie slowly opened the door to his office. What would Gabriel say on first impression? Is there a chance to escape if things go south? What if he wanted to tell her to stay away from her son? What if he hates her designs? Within a few long seconds, her questions would soon be answered as she slowly and nervously entered the room with Nathalie.

Gabriel, who was previously typing something, had looked up from what he was doing to see the women who had entered the room, and said, "Miss Dupain-Cheng. Nice to meet you again."

Marinette nervously replied, "And you as well Mr. Agreste."

Gabriel nodded before turning his gaze to Nathalie as he said, "Thank you Nathalie. You can go now."

Nathalie nodded as she left the room, possibly to inform Adrien that his girlfriend had arrived. And just as the door closed, Marinette felt her legs weaken and her palms get sweaty. Her idol was sitting right in front of her, and she was almost a nervous wreck. As she slowly inched towards the fashion mogul as if he were a tiger, she began to feel a little dizzy. Something that was noticed by Gabriel who asked with slight concern, "Are you feeling alright child?"

"Uh Yes sir," Marinette said as she snapped back to focus, "It's just….well…."

Marinette trailed off as she tried to find the right words to say. She didn't want to seem like an over-obsessive fangirl, but it was hard to be professional around a man so intimidating. Thankfully Gabriel seemed to be understanding based on his amused smile, and said, "I understand. Feel free to sit down Miss Dupain-Cheng."

"Thank you sir," Marinette said as she accepted his offer, "You can call me Marinette by the way."

Gabriel gave an understanding nod, "Very well. It's nice to see that my son has taken a shine to a nice young lady like yourself."

Marinette felt flattered by the compliment, "Thank you. To be honest, I didn't think you'd approve of…well…"

"I'll be honest, I was concerned at first," Gabriel replied truthfully, "But considering how highly Adrien spoke of you, it felt fair to give you a chance. And I remembered your talents."

"My talents?" Marinette asked, looking thoroughly confused.

"Of course," Gabriel reminded her, "Your designs for Jagged Stone, and your little feather hat."

"Oh right," Marinette almost exclaimed as she remembered what he meant, "I didn't think you'd keep track of that sort of thing."

"I like to keep my eye open for any potential talent," Gabriel assured her, "Which brings me to my next question."

Gabriel stood from his seat, and grabbed the electronic tablet from off of his desk. When it was in his hands, he walked over to Marinette who was still sitting on the other side of his desk. He stopped and leaned against his desk as he handed the tablet over to the teen. On the screen was a design of a dress and a suit both meant to be in a theme. Neither were in color but the theme was stated above, 'Ladybug and Chat Noir.'

Gabriel then began to explain, "I was working on a little project to show appreciation for our local heroes. Unfortunately, I seem to have run into a dead end. I can't figure out how to better incorporate aspects of both heroes in this design. It helps me to have a fresh set of eyes to guide me further down, but the rest of my designers might not be as talented. Would you mind providing some of your own input?"

Marinette was stunned as she slowly looked up at the man, "You want me to help you with this?"

"Of course," Gabriel nodded once more, "Be as blunt as possible."

And with that, Marinette got to work, "Well the color arrangement is perfect. Having the green tie on the suit represent Chat Noir's eyes. And adding black spots to the red dress compliments Ladybug perfectly. Though some edits I would make are…"

The discussion, or rather Marinette voicing her thoughts out loud to Gabriel, had lasted less than five minutes. And by the time she finished, Marinette had came up with fancy clothing ideas for not just Ladybug and Chat Noir, But for the rest of Team Miraculous as well. She even came up with thoughts on fancy clothing in the same hero them for the opposite gender. Not to mention, a great deal of the ideas she had were things that he hadn't even thought of himself. To say that he was impressed in this case was an understatement.

"Marvelous," Gabriel said as he thought over everything she pointed out.

"I imagine you'll want to use those ideas for your next line of fashion?" Marinette asked, feeling hopeful.

"Even better," Gabriel said with a slight enthusiastic smile, "How would you like to be the one to design these articles of clothing for my next gala?"

With that, Marinette felt her heart pound out of her chest, "You…you really want me to…to make these? For you?"

"Absolutely," Gabriel answered, "I can't think of anyone more qualified."

"I…I…I don't know what to say," Marinette said as she tried to contain her excitement, "Yes. Thank you so much sir."

"There is one condition first," Gabriel said as he sat back down at his desk, and pulled a stapled stack of paper out from his drawer and slid it over to Marinette.

"What's this?" Marinette asked as she grabbed the paper and began reading it.

While she did so, Gabriel gave his answer to her, "It's a contract which states that you will be properly compensated for any clothing sold that you designed. The one following is an internship agreement at my company. You will be shadowing members of my staff when you have the available time, which is at your convenience. You're free to think over the contract for as long as you'd like though with your skills, I imagine you might get many offers like my own soon."

Marinette was at a complete loss for words from the offer. She didn't expect Gabriel to even acknowledge her presence in the fashion industry let alone make her an internship offer. Yet here she was currently holding a contract that had already been signed on his part. She almost pinched herself to check to see if she was actually dreaming or not. She tried to contain her enthusiasm, unsuccessfully, and quickly stood up from her seat, saying, "Thank you so much sir. This is a tremendous honor."

"Of course Marinette," Gabriel said with a smile as he began to return to his work, "Now I must get back to this, if you'll excuse me."

Marinette walked out of the office, and noticed Adrien at the entrance waiting. In his hands were a small bouquet of roses and a pleasant grin on his face. However, the grin was beginning to fade when he noticed the shock on his girlfriend's face. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and asked, "Mari, are you okay?"

Marinette briefly snapped back to reality, "Yeah. I just had a pleasant conversation with your father when I didn't realize it would happen I mean I was completely caught off guard and…."

She continued to babble and wandered away from the door leading to Gabriel's office. It worried Adrien a little since he couldn't get her to stop the endless stream of words coming from her. Eventually they made it to his bedroom, allowing Plagg to fly up to Marinette's face, and say, "Princess. Calm down, and just explain what happened slowly."

Marinette once again brought her focus back to the present and took a deep breath before talking again, "Sorry Guys. It's just…"

The bluenette paused when she noticed the flowers in her boyfriend's hand, "Are those for me?"

"After you explain what occurred earlier," Adrien requested as he moved the roses behind his back, and waited for her to respond.

Marinette took another deep breath, and said, "Your father wanted to speak to me about…well…me."

Adrien looked bewildered, "I don't understand."

"He mentioned how I had incredible design talents," Marinette explained more thoroughly, "And he offered me an internship at his company."

Adrien then began to smile joyfully as he walked up and gave her a hug, "That's great. What did you say?"

"That I would think on it," Marinette said, giving him a quick hug back before they both pulled away to look each other in the eyes.

"Well hopefully you accept the offer," Adrien said as he kept his arms wrapped around her, "It'd be boring without my little Bugaboo to spend time with."

Marinette then wrapped her arms loosely around his neck and felt their foreheads lean against each other, "You can live without my presence for more than a couple of hours you needy cat."

"But then who would I flirt with?" Adrien said softly as he leaned his face closer to hers.

Eventually the two began making out only to stop when they ended up tripping. Thankfully they just landed on Adrien's bed, and he had already set the flowers down before hugging her prior. But now they were laying on his bed still locked in each other's embrace, and with her currently on top of him. They both looked at each other before Adrien broke the silence, "I guess I finally managed to get some of your luck."

Marinette gave a light chuckle just before they continued kissing. However, their moment was once again interrupted when they noticed a flash from outside Adrien's window. Both looked over to see what happened but couldn't spot anything from his bed. So they had to let go of each other and walk over to the bedroom window. That was when it became apparent what had happened. Turns out the flash was from a camera, and the one holding it was Queen Bee Who was currently flying by the window looking probably a little too smug.

The couple just glared at her frustratedly as Marinette asked, "Really?"

"What? It's just a little souvenir for the team," Queen Bee replied with a grin present on her face, "Speaking of the team, they're waiting for patrol."

"Now?" Adrien asked with disbelief, "We don't start patrols until…"

Adrien paused and groaned after checking his watch. A while back, before the whole reveal even happened, both original heroes had set a time for when patrol would actually start so as to not raise any suspicion. And they made sure that the other three members of Team Miraculous had the time set as well by showing up randomly at their houses, much to the displeasure of the three. Now this time the couple was on the receiving end of the time reminder since it was already three minutes late. Clearly the result of their little kissing session.

"So shall we get to patrolling boss?" Queen Bee teased with the coy look on her face.

"After you delete that photo," Marinette answered, pointing at the camera.

Queen Bee took a quick glance at the camera and flew up close to the window as she said, "Sure. I'll delete it. If you can catch me."

And with that, Bee flew off away from the house. The duo groaned knowing that their little moment of romance would have to continue another time. And they could tell that this was vengeance for the team spying on Chloe's date. Their only relief was that she'd probably have something planned for Alya, and Nino as well. So they decided to indulge in her little game and began chasing her as soon as they transformed.


	16. The Kwami Bunch

Chapter 16

Being the leader of team miraculous took a little time for Marinette to get use to. It wasn't even a role that she saw herself playing even when the media identifies her as such. That and her friends would call her boss from time to time whenever they were in their hero forms since she's the one always coming up with the plans. But there were times where she wished that she was still watching Manon instead of trying to keep the others in line. And today was one of those times for sure.

"No," Marinette said to her friends all sitting around her room.

"Why not?" Alya asked almost like a sad child not getting their way.

"Because it's already dangerous to even have them here," Marinette answered, "Letting them out could be even more of a risk."

The argument she was currently having came up when they were studying. Marinette noticed Chloe glancing at the miraculous box occasionally until they finally addressed it. Once they did, she ended up having to deal with her teammates all requesting to meet the other kwamis. However when Marinette said no in this case, she meant it. But her teammates were nothing if not persistent.

"Aw come on bugaboo," Adrien said in an attempt to flirt his way to success, "Why not let us make more friends?"

Marinette felt herself want to say yes briefly until she regained her composure and said, "We Don't know what kind of trouble would be caused from it. Curiosity could still kill the cat."

"What about that whole satisfaction line?" Plagg asked from Marinette's little kwami alcove that she designed.

Marinette looked over at the cat kwami as if she was about to shoot lasers out of her eyes at him. Deciding it best not to anger her, he chose not to say more. However, Trixx spoke up next, "I respect your decision Marinette, but I don't believe that there is much risk for now."

"And besides, it'd be nice to talk to our friends outside of the box," Wayzz chimed in, "You won't believe how boring it got with master Fu."

"What do you mean boring?" Pollen asked her fellow kwami, "He let us out to visit with you occasionally."

"Exactly," Wayzz said, turning Pollen's statement to better support his side, "And he was even more paranoid than anyone here."

"That's because he's over a century old," Tikki pointed out.

This caused the teens to all chuckle at Tikki's remark. Mostly because they had assumed that the age thing was a joke. However, in the back of their minds, they did think it was possible. Marinette, and Chloe both had assumed that he was older than he looked based on what they noticed about him when they first met him as Master Fu. But for the other three, the thought of Master Fu being over a hundred years old seemed like a stretch.

Eventually Tikki brought them back to the initial topic, "Perhaps it would help to familiarize yourself with the others though."

Everyone, with the exception of Marinette, looked at Tikki with surprise. Throughout their time of knowing her, the teens all looked to Tikki as the kwami voice of reason since she was a perfect balance to Plagg. Not to mention, the other three kwamis didn't really fit that role too well. But there was logic behind Tikki's reasoning, and for the more eager ones in the room, her support was enough for them. Eventually it became enough for Marinette as well, "Fine. We'll allow them out just this once. Then they'll need to return to their boxes."

She noticed Alya Almost rush to the miraculous box, and managed to grab it before any other hands touched it, and said, "I'll be the one opening it."

Alya gave a light pout, "Party pooper."

Marinette then slowly opened the box, and began to release the kwamis. In a second, she and her friends were immediately surrounded by the remaining kwamis. All of which were looking around the room, taking in their current environment. This continued until they all spotted the five teens who had circled around the box that Marinette had opened. Eventually one of the kwamis which looked like a snake had flown up to the center of the box, and asked, "Are you the new chosens?"

"Sort of," Marinette answered for the group as she showed the snake kwami that she had the ladybug earrings.

The others followed suit as they showed which miraculous they possessed. The kwami in the center looked between all of them and said, "Well then it's a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Sass."

"I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng," Marinette introduced herself before introducing the others, "This is Adrien Agreste, Alya Cesaire, Nino Lahiffe, and Chloe Bourgeois."

"Sass," Tikki exclaimed as she flew to hug the snake, "We missed you guys."

"And we missed you Tikki," Sass said as he returned the hug, "I just hope Plagg, and Wayzz are being kept in line."

"Why stop them from having fun?" asked another kwami who had the appearance of a monkey.

"Sounds like another troublemaker," Adrien said with a slight chuckle, "Who might you be?"

"The name's Xuppu," the monkey kwami replied, "And it's not my fault if I know how to have fun."

"Just don't cause any issues for any of us here," Sass requested with a groan.

"Impressive," one of the kwamis said From Marinette's desk as they looked through her design journal.

Marinette was quick to get up and snatch the art book away from the admiring kwamis who appeared to be a tiger, and a horse. The horse spoke first, "Do you think you can make any noble garments for my chosen when the time comes?"

"It's funny how you now have design commissions from kwamis," Alya said before turning her attention over to said kwamis, "So what are your names?"

"I am Kaalki," the horse kwami answered first, "And please tell me that my chosen is an honorable knight, fair maiden."

"I wouldn't know yet," Marinette answered before turning to look at Adrien, "And don't you start."

"No fun princess," Adrien replied from where he was sitting.

"Princess?" Kaalki asked, "You're of royal birth?"

"No, it's just his way of flirting," Marinette replied with a groan, knowing that Adrien only called her princess to mess with her.

"That sounds a little mean," the tiger kwami replied.

"Nah he means well Roaar," Plagg said in Adrien's defense.

"Well then that's good," Roaar began smiling again.

As the teens looked for where the other kwamis would be, they noticed three of them surrounding a plate of treats. The three appeared to be in the form of a rabbit, a dog, and an ox. All three were currently helping themselves to the treats that were on the plate. And all three seemed to be absolutely enjoying the snacks. The dog kwami looked towards the humans and asked, "Where do you get these?"

"All made here," Nino answered, "And Ladybug here is a baker as well."

"How wonderful," the rabbit replied as she continued eating the blueberry macaroons.

"Just in case you're wondering by the way," Sass said as he flew over to draw attention to the three briefly, "The rabbit kwami is Fluff, the dog is Barkk, and the ox is Stompp."

"Interesting names," Chloe pointed out.

"What is this strange box here?" Another kwami asked.

All five of the teens turned to see where the voice came from. Turns out it was one of the kwamis that haven't introduced themselves yet. But eventually that was finished and soon the remaining kwamis were identified as Ziggy the lamb, Daizzi the pig, Orikko the rooster, Mullo the mouse, and Longg the dragon. As they were about to continue their discussion of who each kwami was, and what they could do, Alya noticed something. She grabbed the two empty boxes and said, "We're missing blue and violet."

"That would be Duusu, and Nooroo," Sass answered, "The peacock and butterfly."

Chloe's attention snapped from Alya to the serpent, "Did you say butterfly?"

"Makes sense that Hawkmoth would have a kwami," Adrien pointed out, "But what happened to the peacock?"

"We don't know," Fluff answered this time, "Her chosen was lost and we were never able to get in touch with Duusu again."

Longg was next to speak, "And after that, we noticed that Nooroo was missing along with his miraculous."

"Don't worry," Marinette assured the kwamis, "We'll get them both back."

"Thank you Ladybug," Sass smiled with immense gratitude, "So what do you humans do for entertainment?"

"I can help you there," Plagg replied with a mischievous smile.

It was a story that the friends did find interesting. Until they ended up having to pick up after the tiny creatures of chaos. Ultimately, it was agreed that the kwamis would all be able to leave when it was deemed safe enough. Or when Marinette, since she was officially the team leader, would select a chosen for each kwami, to the disappointment of a small group of them. However, since that day, Marinette had been coming up with lists of who she would give each kwami to, though many of them were scrapped.

The last time she was working on the list, she noticed Adrien arrive on her balcony again as Chat Noir, and asked, "If you're going to keep working on that thing, can you please humor me with another song?"

Marinette giggled as she kissed her boyfriend on the cheek, "Fine. But only because I know how much of a needy kitty you are."

The bluenette began singing along to another karaoke song on her phone. However, the song was interrupted when she got a text from someone. Adrien, or Chat Noir in this case, looked at the text and let Marinette read it as well. It was in the group chat once again.

[From Mr. Rhythm: Hey lovebirds, where are you guys? Patrol is coming up.]

Marinette began typing up a response until she noticed other replies.

[From Hive Girl: I say we should let the two have their little moment of love.]

[From Super Sleuth: Moment Of love? One second. I must document this.]

Marinette rolled her eyes, knowing that Chloe and Alya were teasing them but sent a reply to the team.

[From Lady Luck: We're on our way to meet you guys.]

As she hit send, she looked to Chat and asked, "Did anyone see you enter?"

"Well I travelled with Cara…" Chat paused before giving a distasteful groan at his realization, "Damn turtle followed me."

"That's the life we might have to deal with," Marinette said as she giggled at Chat's grumbling face, "But Don't worry. We'll get our revenge someday."

Chat smiled as well, "Fair enough. I'll meet you outside Princess."

The blond hero gave Marinette a kiss on the lips before leaving out through balcony entrance. Shortly following him was the same bluenette who looked to her kwami and said, "Tikki, spots on."

(Author's notes)

This chapter is the end of all of the significant moments until further notice. This is meant to be the last chapter but there might be some epilogue filler if I feel up to it. Thank you all so much for reading and thank you for the reviews that you typed up. I hope you enjoyed every chapter, and I'm sorry if some moments weren't your favorites.

However, there will be more to this story itself. I already got started on a sequel following this story called "Miraculous Youth". I hope you enjoy that story as well.

Stay Miraculous folks. : )


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